jaipurblogger

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon V

2010-09-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hello,

This is a further update on my practice for the Half Marathon.
Last Sunday (19th Sept) I ran 5K at a reasonable pace. I ran a distance > 10K on Tuesday and Thursday and was hoping to run a 12K yesterday. I could not do it as two rather important things came up.
My wife left for Jaipur to be with my ailing mother. Mummy had a Cardiac Bypass Surgery on the 6th of August and was expected to be up and around by this time but due to an infection of the surgery cut the progress has been much slower and we are fearful of the continuous illness.
The Champions League finals between Chennai and Warriors was telecast live from 6:30 PM. I felt like watching the match.
I therefore have to make the 12K run today.
On an average I am able to run the distance of 10K within 1:20 mins. This gives me hope that I shall be able to meet my target of 3 hrs for the run in November.
The fact that now I am able to run 10K comfortably also boosts my confidence.

By the way our cricket team won the practice game against NBK on Saturday. We were playing without a couple of our good players and were still able to chase down 178 runs needed for victory in 20 overs. This victory is a good confidence booster for our team just before the league starts. We are playing the same team coming Saturday and we expect them to come hard at us. I am sure that if we play to our potential we can continue this winning streak.

Best regards,
Manoj

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon IV

2010-09-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Yesterday was another wonderful evening.

After skipping the scheduled run of 5K on Saturday I ran it on Sunday but once again without timing the run. The reason for skipping the run on Saturday was that I had gone for Cricket practice in the morning and felt that I would not be able to do justice to the run that evening.

You learn by making choices and I learnt that running immediately after having a mug of coffee is not a great idea. I sweat a lot and on Sunday, when I began running, I was sweating profusely even before I had run half a KM. The regular sweating usually starts after I have run a KM and it does not tire me in any way but the sweating I encountered because of the coffee made me feel lethargic and I would have surely failed to complete any course longer than the 5K.

The planned run for Tuesday was 7K and I was wondering if the tiredness that hit me on Sunday was a one-off thing or was it something that would put a brake to my preparation.

Such thoughts I believe are not unique. The apprehension that I will not be able to make it made me think of giving up.

However, the run yesterday was heartening. I started with a plan to go 5K and then plan on the remaining 2K. As a 5K run now seems easy I was hoping that I would have enough steam left to go through the next 2K.

Before starting on the run yesterday I had a couple of glasses of water and a 'Kaju Barfi'. I started at a slightly slower pace and had finished 3K before I actually started to feel the run. The 5K mark was passed easily and I reached 7K only with a slight pain in my knees. I have now got rid of the knee strap and the crepe bandage on the shin and ankles.

Although I had done my scheduled run I somehow felt I should take advantage of the fact that I was not tired and run further. The spur of the moment thought was to better the 10K run of the previous Saturday or at least equal it and therefore I kept on going.

I met Noel who plays cricket at Sharq United on Fridays. Earlier Victor of Sharq United has also seen me run. I am not sure if they are surprised or aghast about my plans. After all most of them are 10 years my junior and the HM is a punishing distance. I also met Anku, Vinod's son who was walking with his father after having cycled on the previous two days.

These diversions are good as they take your mind away from the running. Other diversions are looking for familiar faces and trying to figure out their walking/running plans for the day. Looking at people and calculating how slow or fast I am in comparison is also a good diversion.

Anyway before I realized I was already at 9.5K and still feeling good.

It seems I made a small mistake here and tried to pick up speed for the remaining 1.5K. I was able to do it but the higher speed affected the kees and the runners knee was back. It was however much lighter this time and after having done the cooling off walk of two additional rounds I went home took a quick sower, dressed up and was at Salmiya market to order for our clothes for the cricket matches.

Things are getting exciting here as well as the season draws closer. We have a good team this year and God willing we should beat a few of the fancied teams. This Saturday we have planned to have a practice match with NBK.

If we do well we will celebrate.

Best regards,
Manoj

THE AIRTEL DELHI HALF MARATHON III

2010-09-16T04:36:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Yesterday I started for my run at 7 PM. The Sun was down and there was a pleasant breeze blowing. It was perfect weather for the run as even the humidity which had been a big bother in the past seems to have come down.

I took a quick bite (Lebanese sweets prepared at home by my office colleague) and had a glass of water before I started from home. The walk to the park is about half a KM and provides me an opportunity to test my aches and pains. I felt good as the calf pain that had been developing over the day was not bothersome any more. The crepe bandage taping over the calf seemed to have helped.

The plan was to run 6K and after the disappointment of the run on Monday I was apprehensive.

Once I started my run and completed half of the 1K circle of the park I started getting confident that I was not going to see another failure.

I completed the 6K without mishap or tiredness and as a celebration walked two smaller rounds of the park on the paved track.

The shin pain was more or less absent during the run and I think running on the dirt track instead of the paved one has helped. I now have pain in the calves.

The pain has travelled from the knees to the shin and to the calf and I hope it is on it's way out. I now have two days of rest or cross training before the 5K race on Saturday.

We, ie my son and I, plan to go for a swim today. Tomorrow I will play cricket in the morning.

Earlier I had planned to do the 5K on Saturday morning but the Bank Cricket league is starting on 9th October and we have a practice planned for Saturda morning. This means that I have to do the run in the evening.

I am planning on doing the 5K run in 35 mins. 7 mins to a KM over 5K should be good for achieving my target of doing the HM in less than 3 hours.

Best regards,

Manoj

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon II

2010-09-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hello,

A few days back, on Saturday, I ran my first 10K.

It was very satisfying as I have continued to train through the problems of 'Runners Knee' and 'Shin Splints'. The 'Runners Knee' troubled me a lot during the first week but I have not been bothered again by it since then. However, the 'Shin Splints' seem to be a different problem altogether. It started in the second week of the training and turned severe in the third week. The third run of that week was a 6K run and I had to stop after 3.5K as going any further was difficult.

I took help of Dr. Scholl's soles that provide arch support and the pain became bearable. Now into my 6th week of training I do not get the unbearable pain I experienced in the beginning but my shin still hurts in the beginning and the end of the run.

I have noticed that I get a feel of extra energy at the 3K mark and it seems to last for a few KMs after that. Like in the 10K run on Saturday the run from 4K to 9K was pretty easy.

Till now I have been focussing mainly on completing the planned run and have still not timed my runs accurately. It does seem that I am doing 8 minutes to a KM.

At this rate I need to add another 30 seconds per KM for the HM and that would give me a timing of 3 hours and 4 minutes.

This is slightly over my target of 3 hours and I will try to bring down my timing over the current week.

Disappointing news is that yesterday I had a setback and failed to run the 6k I had planned. I got so badly drenched in sweat by 4K that it was impossible to continue further. I completed the 6K by walking through the last 2K but it was not the same. I walk pretty slow and I was slower after the exhaustion.

I went through a few blogs of first time HM runners and was surprised to note that they completed the run in the 2 hours and 30 minutes range.

I hope that I am able to run within 3 hours.

Best regards,

Manoj

THE AIRTEL DELHI HALF MARATHON

2010-08-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Hello,

15 days ago I started preparing for the New Delhi Half Marathon.
I scrolled the net to get some idea on how to prepare and came across a wonderful training chart for novices at http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm.

I have since followed it religiously and done 19 kms for the past two weeks with a six km run on Saturdays ending the weeks.

After the first week I developed some pain around my knees. Earlier I had developed similar pain when walking downhill from Vaishno Devi and had concluded that it was because of my excessive walking. The pain, while doing the Vaishno Devi trip, generally started after I had completed the uphill climb of 13 Kms and was on my way down. As I never had this pain while walking or playing cricket I associated the pain with something to do with the pressure I put on my knees when coming down.

When the pain in the knees threatened to disrupt my plans in the first week itself I decided to seek help. As always I trusted the net and came up with detailed description on symptoms, causes and came up with this on http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/knee-pain/DS00555/DSECTION=symptoms

Chondromalacia of the patella, or patellofemoral pain.
This is a general term that refers to pain arising between your patella and the underlying thighbone (femur). It's common in young adults, especially those who have a slight misalignment of the kneecap; in athletes; and in older adults, who usually develop the condition as a result of arthritis of the kneecap. Chondromalacia of the patella causes:

Pain and tenderness in the front of your knee that's worse when you sit for long periods, when you get up from a chair, and when you climb or descend stairs.
A grating or grinding sensation may be present when you extend your knee.
When to see a doctor
If you have new knee pain that isn't severe or disabling, a good rule of thumb is to try treating it yourself first. This includes resting, icing and elevating the affected knee, and sometimes using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce pain and inflammation. If you don't notice any improvement in three to seven days, see your doctor or a specialist in sports medicine or orthopedics.
Some types of knee pain require more immediate medical care. Call your doctor if you:
Can't bear weight on your knee
Have marked knee swelling
See an obvious deformity in your leg or knee
Have worrisome pain
Have a fever, in addition to redness, pain and swelling in your knee, which may indicate an infection

As i had none of the above serious symptoms I started treaing myself.
I started rehabilitation exercises. These specific exercises help in strengthening the muscles that support your knees and control limb alignment, such as your quadriceps, hamstrings and the muscles around your hips (especially the hip abductors). The details I once again got at the halhigdon site on the half marathon and I was happy to know that it is not serious. http://www.halhigdon.com/15Ktraining/Stretch.htm gives details of the exercises that stengthen your muscles.
After doing the stretches for a couple of days I found that I no longer have the pain around the knees. As recommended I also purchased knee caps to support the knee but I think I need to purchase something better, this one is cheap and most prabably will start slipping off after using it a few times. I have still not started the icing part but will do that as well.

After I ran 5 kms on two consecutive days I have developed some pain on the sides of the calf muscle. I will once again take a look in the internet for a solution. Meanwhile I ran 6 Kms today with the slight ningling pain but was able to complete the run.

When I started I had thought I will not have the lung power to run the distances. Now, after two weeks my ideas are changing. I now believe I will not be breathless over even longer distances but need to take care of my legs.

Best regards,
Manoj

Ramadaan for Non-Muslims in Kuwait

2010-08-19T02:30:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Ramadaan is a month of fasting for Muslims all over the world. There are several other activities like prayers, charity etc associated with this month but what dominates conversation at offices is the fasting.

Fasting becomes important as it means giving up on a few of the favorite past times for Kuwaitis. They have to give up smoking, drinking Kahwa (coffee), Tea and eating the several in between snacks that keep them invigorated through normal days for their long sessions of gossip.

How tough is it for Non Muslims?

Not tough at all. The rule says that if you are caught breaking the fast in public you will be liable for a fine of KD 100/= or imprisonment till the end of Ramadaan or both. Every year we hear of some people getting caught but this breaking of the law I believe is more by mistake than by intent.

It is very easy to obey the rules. On general working days we start office at 7:30AM which means that we leave home at 6:45AM. Hardly a time to have breakfast. So mostly we end up taking a break for our breakfast at 9-9:30 AM. We then finish our office at 3:30 PM and are back home at 4 PM for our lunch.

During Ramadaan office starts at 9:30 AM and we start from home at 8:45 AM. As we are in the habit of getting up early and do not have to be awake at 3-3:30 AM like the Muslims do for their prayers, we end up having a leisurely breakfast.

At office between breakfast and end of office we have a few cups of coffee/tea. This is still available in the pantry even during Ramadaan.

Water drinkers have an issue but they keep the airconditioner at as low as possible and you can control your thirst quite easily. People who can not still have the choice of making it into the pantry.

Finally during Ramadaan we get off at 2:30 PM so we are back home for lunch at about 3:00PM that is a good time to have lunch.

As iftar is generally at 6:30 PM it is also OK for the tea break and thenafter we are free to visit restaurants and eat to our belly full anywhere.

So all in all I feel that we actually get into a good eating routine during Ramadaan. No wonder we put on weight during this one month.

Ramadaan is tough for the Muslims as they go without food and water for about 14 hours. They do not sleep properly and are irritable. It is difficult to concentrate on the work and as the refreshments are missing they do not want to talk as well. Finally it affects their hopes of being good and charitable and although they fast, do their prayers and read the koran the basic lesson of Islam for Ramadaan is not followed.

No one remains just and charitable. Your Kuwaiti boss has a tendency to fly off the hook at the slightest pretext and there is anxiety and tension in the office through out the month.

Finally people are happy when it is Eid.

VAISHNO DEVI TRIP

2010-08-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

A trip to the temple of Vaishno Devi should logically find a mention in my blog "One God" but as I am now going to describe my journey to the Temple and refrain from discussing anything else I find it more suitable to enter it in "Jaipurblogger".

The trip this time was not planned. In fact right from 2000, when I first visited the Temple very rarely have we been able to plan it in much advance. It is therefore strange that never have we faced any difficulty in reaching there and coming back home without any hiccups.

When we came back from Diu and Ahmedabad, I still had a lot of things to attend to at home in Jaipur and going to Vaishno Devi was furthest from my thoughts. I had Radhika's birthday coming up on 28th and we had also been discussing a get together of friends from SBBJ. But somehow all of a sudden Radhika insisted that plan the trip in between these events.

So I booked my plane tickets from Delhi to Jammu and back and started off for taking the bus from Narayansingh circle. I got the only vacant seat in the Bus and was off within two hours of having planned the trip.

The bus trip was uneventful if you ignore the fact that the lady (A Govt School teacher from Jaipur) sitting next to me insisted on pouring her heart out and telling me about the problems she was facing with her son. This young man was in his final year of Engineering at IIT and although a brilliant student, he was now adamant that he did not want to study any further. He had already got a job of teaching students on how to get thru GMAT (which he had cleared with flying colors) and was insisting that the Engineering Degree would not help help him in any significant way.

I would have agreed with his logic if he had taken this decision on joining but I felt he was a fool to drop out when he was almost thru. I told the lady about my trip to Vaishno Devi and took 52 rupees from her to put in the donation box at the temple. I asked he to visit the temle if her wish got fulfilled and her son agreed to complete his course.

I stayed the night at Mayur Vihar and took the morning flight to Jammu. When I boarded the flight I realized that I had booked a Executive class ticket on the KF flight. It was real comfortable journey. Jammu to Katra was covered by Taxi.

I had planned to stay in the Shrine Board hotel in Katra but the Taxi Driver, who obviously had some commission to make made me stay at a better place. I rested for an hour and then took off for the temple.

For people who have not visited the temple I will make the details as explanatory as possible.
You first have to que to get the Yatra Ticket at a place near Katra Bus Stand. Luckily I did not have to do this as the Hotel package was inclusive of the Yatra ticket supplied in the room. There is another que when you get to the foot of the climb. The frisking by the police takes place over here and sometimes (as it was with me this time) you do get a big crowd at this place.

I started climbing at 6 PM and when I did start I felt so comfortable that I decided that I will do the 11 KM uphill stretch in one go. Even after so many trips I once again forgot that the first couple of KMs is the toughest. I was fresh and full of excitement and therefore pressed hard over this stretch. By the time I finished this I was sweating profusely. I admit that the weather was humid but I was sweating much more than any of the other walkers. Anyway so after I had done the first stretch I took off my shirt so that I would at least have something fresh to wear when I entered the temple. My vest was wet and I thought then that with the difficult start covered and going up into the breeze I would have a dry vest by the time I completed the climb.

The journey is tough and people try to make it easy on themselves by singing songs praising the Devi. The facilities along the way are excellent with a cafe and restaurant located at every interval of two to three KMs. There are benches placed all along the route and in general the climbers encourage each other.

As decided by me I did not use the facilities and the bench and did a very fast non stop climb, completing the distance of 11 KM mostly uphill in two hours flat.

The vest was now so wet that the sweat had dripped into my underpants. When I completed the climb many people actually thought that I was roaming around after having taken a bath with my vest on. This gave me the idea of taking a bath at the ghats.

Most times when we have been to the temple we have booked a room at the top and have visited the temple after having a bath in the attached bathroom (reasonable facilities). So I reached the Men's ghat hoping that it would be a covered area. The ghat turned out to be an open space with taps. I took the bath with my underwear on and then discarded the vest and the underwear, wore my trouser and shirt and made for the last que for the temple.

Unfortunately it was arti time and I had to wait for a long time before I got my chance to get into the temple.

We generally get back to Katra after the visit to the Devi temple but I do not know what came over and I decided that I will climb further to the Bhairon temple (a good 2 km steep climb). On reaching there I rested for a while, had some desi ghee ka halwa and then started my downhill journey at midnight.

For most of us this would seem the easy part but I was really tired by then and my knees really hurt when i stupidly used the step (359 of them plus another couple in the early 100s). I reached the bottom of the hill (13 KMs now) at 3.30 AM.The use of the steps made me sweat once again and I actually did most of the downhill journey bare bodied. It was quite a ridiculous sight, a person sweating while going downhill but I was beyond caring.

Reached the hotel and found it extremely difficult climbing the four floors to the room (lift was not working).

Next morning I was back in Jammu and then took the flight to Delhi. A bus ride to Jaipur then ended my journey to Vaishno Devi.

The journey has always given me a lot of satisfaction and this time it was different as I actually did a non stop climb in my personal best time of two hours.

The idea of taking the bath at the ghats, the visit to the Bhairon Temple was all spur of the moment decisions and the accomplishment gave satisfaction.

I am sure everyone who has made the climb will have their own stories to tell.
Best regards
Manoj

My Vacation In India

2010-08-03T05:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,

This year I finally took the longest vacation since 2000. When in State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, I was used to a one month vacation. I could take it without feeling of any guilt and as a right. In Axis Bank, taking a vacation for four weeks was unthinkable. An organisation where small absences from office is frowned upon a request for vacation was made trepidations and the Boss had to be molly coddled before you actually sent your application. When I landed in Kuwait small vacations seemed to suit me as I could make more than one trip to India. But this year I heard my kids complaining that they hardly felt my presence during a vacation as I would generally end up being busy in a lot of work and forget to relax.
The one month vacation was good.
After relaxing for ten days in Jaipur where I played a cricket match for Mentor Finance against SJ Public School and ate a lot of Jaipur delicacies, we spent four days in Ahmedabad.
The time I spent there was excellent. I played Table Tennis with Sanju, the brother of my brother in law and lost all but one game. It was however surprising that spectators found my attacking game more entertaining than his ultra defensive and calculative game. My nephew's Janoi was celebrated with pomp and ceremony and I MCed the reception. Once again with a little bit of immodesty I have to add that I did reasonably well.
After Ahmedabad we, my family and my youngest sister, her husband and daughter, made a trip to Somnath and Diu.
The Somnath Temple is a new Temple built over the ruins of an old temple complex famous for the series of attacks and loot by Allauddin Khilji.
Diu is a wonderful tourist destination untouched by the mad stampede of tourism. We stayed at Radhika Resort, a very reasonably priced, well located and equipped resort. The beach is not much to rave about but the food was good, the time spent in the swimming pool in company of the family was relaxing.
The trip ended with a return to Jaipur and further exploration of the eating joints.

One of the most enjoyable aspect of this trip was the connections I made with old friends. I talked to several of my class mates, SBBJ mates and Axis Bank mates. The old memories came flooding back and gave plenty of joy.

I am not sure if I can take a similarly long vacation in the future but memories of this vacation stored through pictures now pasted in the computer and the revival of old connections will keep me fresh and expectant till my next vacation.

Best regards,
Manoj

GETTING NEW FRIENDS

2010-06-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

Hello,

When you think of your dearest friends what are the names that jump out immediately?

Names of people you are now spending time with?
Name of your spouse?
Name of your present office colleagues?

In most cases these names hardly ever enter your mind.
The names that jump out immediately are mainly from your childhood or maybe from the first days at your work place.
Why is it so?

Well if I have to give a one line answer the reply would be
"Your best friend is a friend who is with you not because of what you are but who you are."
Extending it further we can say that
"Your best friend is a friend who is nothing else but himself."

In most of our adult life we become too biased in our views and rigid in our choices.
We focus on results and not on processes.
It is therefore no surprise that we focus on what rather than who and fail to find the true friend later in life.

Getting a new best friend is as tough as climbing the Everest without oxygen. Possible but difficult.
It is therefore very important that we retain our friendships.

Best regards,
Manoj

Short Story - Recipe for a Disaster

2010-04-01T04:10:00.000-07:00

Recipe for a disaster

Arpita had just lost the recipe competition. She sat in the rocking chair, going back and forth in the dark room. “How am I going to face people again”, she was thinking.

Her husband was the General Manager of Sam North Jute Mill and it was ‘Bada Khana’, a day when employees of all the five Jute mills of the ‘Duff group of companies’ got together to celebrate the year end.

It was a British legacy that had survived the exit of the Sahebs. ‘Bada Khana’ had changed from New Year eve to 26th January but the fanfare, pomp and ceremony had been retained. The celebrations included the very tough tennis finals for men and the equally exciting recipe competition for women. They had races like the wheel barrow race, the three legged race and a tug of war competition which was open to men, women and children but for the men, it was winning the tennis competition that mattered most and it had always been the recipe competition that the women focussed on.

Arpita was confident about her victory and the other competitors, who were aware of her exceptional culinary skills, were content that they competed to be second best. But she lost.

The fat and ugly Mrs. Pareek from Victoria was guffawing and she had heard loud clapping as she had made a hasty exit from the club house. She knew that her loss gave the competitors immense joy.

She gave them the reason to be happy. She was a snob. She was proud of her background, the wealth and fame of her family, the fact that she could address Satyajit Ray and Jyoti Basu as ‘Kaku’ and most importantly that she was the wife of the General Manager. She played the role of the ‘Memsahib’ to perfection. They had always been at the receiving end of her jibes and taunts on their lack of skills and polish.

Arpita was thinking about her husband.

Jiten was out with the men celebrating their victory in the Tennis court. He would not get to know about her loss for many days later. After all none of the men would have the courage to speak against the General Manager’s wife. But he would surely find out and then what?

Jiten was hard working, honest and proud of his achievements. Her loss and its manner would be a matter of shame for him.

The couple had moved here just about a year ago and this was their first ‘Bada Khana’. Arpita was an expert cook and loved to show off her skills with rare desserts recipes (collected during her husband’s assignments in tea gardens in Assam and Munnar). The women gave her the sobriquet ‘Queen of the Ladle’.

She had waited for the ‘Bada Khana’ to stamp her authority.

She knew that she would win. She had played her cards properly and trusted Mrs. Robbins.

The Robbins, the only Anglo Indian family in the mill, an old couple, stayed opposite the Yagniks. Mrs. Robbins had been a nurse with the British Army and had met her husband, an engineer in the army when they were both posted in Burma during the Second World War. They had shifted to Kolkata after the war and decided to stay back when the British left India.

Arpita met Mrs. Robbins the day she gave her first party in her new house.

‘My dear, are you having a party tonight’, Mrs. Robbins had asked Arpita.

Arpita was embarrassed. She was told that the Robbins never accepted invitations. She had invited everyone else. ‘Yes’, she said, ‘why don’t you come as well’.

‘No, my child’, said Mrs. Robbins, ‘we are too old for such outings.’

‘Do you need help?’ she asked.

Since then Mrs. Robbins had always helped her plan the desserts for her party menu.

***

Arpita presented the ‘Crepe Suzette’ - A common dessert that promised something special. Arpita felt confident. The feelings seemed justified when Sister Margaret, the nun from France, who was a special invitee, went gaga over the whiff of ‘Cordon Rouge’ flambéed over the crepe and declared ‘For me this is the winner’.

‘Why does your recipe have no mention of bananas’? Ms. Sinha asked Arpita. She was reading the recipe after she tasted the crepe. Ms. Susan Sinha was the head chef of the ‘Orient’ in Kolkata and the other special invitee for the event.

Arpita snickered. ‘Bananas in Crepe Suzette’! She exclaimed. This raised a giggle – the other ladies too had never heard of bananas in Crepe Suzette.

‘Yes, it is the bananas that make the crepe yielding and easy to fold. Is this your recipe?’ Ms. Sinha persisted.

Arpita was flustered now. ‘It’s from an old book’, she said.

‘I have the recipe in my diary’, Ms. Sinha went again. ‘I have bananas in the pancakes all the time’ and the only other person I know who would do it is Mrs. Robbins, my mother. Are you sure it is not her recipe?’

Her perfidy uncovered, Arpita ran out of the club.

She wondered if ten would be enough. The sleeping pills lay on the table next to her. She had already taken the ninth when the doorbell rang.

‘Hello dear, are you in?’ she heard Mrs. Robbins call out. ‘I am sorry about what happened. I told them that I had put in the bananas without your knowledge when I was helping you.’

Arpita tried to get up from her chair but it was too late. The pills took over. Mrs. Robbins did not have the strength to break open the heavy wooden door.

KIDNAPPED IN DARBHANGA

2010-03-22T03:16:00.000-07:00

Hi There,

This is the frame of a Flash Fiction I hoped to expand on some day.

I have not come back to it for a year now and as some of my friends have shown interest in reading what I write I thought I might as well put it on my blog.

So here comes:

Happy reading and do let me have your comments.

Best regards,

Manoj

Kidnapped in Darbhanga

‘Can I have a glass of water’, Rahul was pleading.
Mr. Burly passed a small cup of water and Rahul finished it in one quick gulp. His captivity in the small room had entered the third day. His Rolex was still working.
‘Oh God, he exclaimed aloud, why am I here’ he asked?
No answer. He did not expect one.

This trip to Darbhanga was planned a month ago. After his final semester in the medical college he had gone home, met his parents, stayed with them for a couple of weeks and then boarded the train.

They had shared the same hostel room for the last three years and Rahul had readily accepted Amit’s invitation to visit his ancestral house. He had heard so much that he felt he had to see it. He was fascinated by the tales of movies at Jyoti Cinema, a place where songs were rerun at the point of a gun. He wanted to taste bhang, cannabis to the dilettante, sold openly at Tower Chowk and visit the ghettos, the place where they used AK- 47’s for target practise. This was a wonderland, one tourist destination Rahul did not want to miss.

‘Come on, get up’, the guard had poked his thighs with the long stick he was carrying.
‘Is there a misunderstanding, did he ask for use of the toilet’? He thought he was loosing his head when they stopped next to it.
‘I don’t need to go there’ he said.
‘Shut up’ Mr. Burly replied.
‘OK, so it is not the toilet, thank God’, he murmured, relaxing at the thought that he could still remember facts.
‘Is it done’? Mr. Burly asked Mr. Long Legs who had joined them.
‘Did they get in touch with Dad’? Rahul thought. ‘Let Dad be here’, he prayed. Dad would readily pay the ransom.

Rahul had been warned. Darbhanga was the kidnapping capital of Bihar. Businessmen, Doctors, girls, kids – anyone could become a victim. Amit had told him this. Rahul had not listened; this was part of the charm.

Mr. Long legs smiled. ‘Thank God’, thought Rahul, he had never seen them smile, ‘a good omen’ he hoped.
‘She agreed’ said Mr. Long Legs as he reached them.
Rahul was now hopeful. His eyes went moist as he thought of his mother. His father was abroad he remembered. He had departed on the same day he took the train to Darbhanga. He felt tears well up as he thought of seeing his mother. He knew he would cry the moment he saw her.

‘Come on’, the command was more forceful.
Rahul started walking again.
They reached the outer courtyard of the house where Mr. Burly pushed him ahead. ‘Take a bath, he said, time you are made ready', they laughed aloud.
‘But I don't need it now. I'll go home and take it there," said Rahul and they laughed again.
By now he was naked, Mr. Long Legs pulling off his clothes.

"We don't want you to smell like an animal".

‘So, the time has come’, he thought. He had tears in his eyes as Mr. Long Legs built up the soap lather. He was dried and made to wear the ‘dhoti’.
‘Why not my clothes’? He asked them.
‘What these? They smell like shit.' they laughed again. Mr. Burly and Long Legs were now in a very cheerful mood.

They were in the main inner courtyard now. An old man sat in the centre doing some kind of ritual. The place was gaudily decorated and women were singing and giggling. Clueless, Rahul looked around searching for his mother in this crowd of strangers.

‘Thank God you are here,’ he cried and rushed to hug him.

Amit, his friend, was there.
‘Welcome to the family’ said Amit. ‘My sister really likes you’.
Kidnapping grooms was an industry in Darbhanga.

Just Like That

2010-03-14T03:29:00.000-07:00

Koteshwar was in a very senior position in the government. He was always brilliant in his studies and his father was a senior Judge of the High Court when he retired. The Chief Minister readily agreed to his request to attend the ancient annual cultural function at his ancestral village which he cherished. The vist had to be under high security. Jharkhand is a strife-torn state and militants are everywhere.

The function went off very well. Koteshwar was very pleased and so were the simple villagers. They dance the traditional jig with abandon and spirit even though at the last moment, due to urgent work, the Chief Minister could not come even though he really wanted to. Instead he sent two of his cabinet ministers so that the functions went off well.

Once the ceremonial farewell was done, the two ministers invited Koteshwar to join them in one car for security reasons. Their convoy could become a prized target for any ambush.

"I'll take the front seat, thank you," said Koteshwar as he stepped in beside the driver. The car followed the escort police jeep followed by two more cars packed with alert heavily armed commandos. They took an undisclosed route even though it was a detour which would take longer time.

"Its really uncomfortable with your pistol in the hip belt when you have to seat in the car," said one of the ministers in the back seat, slanting awkardly to pull out the firearm from his behind. Actually it was somewhat congested with so many in one car and they had been travelling for an hour now.

"Oh, what a lovely thing," said the other minister, taking the pistol lovingly into his hands. He removed the magazine, waved the pistol appreciatingly and pulled the trigger just like that not knowing that a bullet was already cocked in to be fired.

The gunfire shot sent the convoy into immediate action well drilled and well experienced in this part of the country. Was there an ambush ? Most probably yes. The journalists in their cars not far behind made quick approach to get their stories.

But the police escort knows, whatever happens, if the road is clear, you never stop. So move, move, keep going. Soon it is realised, there is no more firing, it looks over. "What happened," the journalists ask. The convoy moves on.

The bullet has gone through his right arm and into Koteshwar's rib-cage. Inside the city, their car breaks off from the convoy and heads straight to the Medical College Hospital. VIP emergency. Koteshwar is operated upon. The bullet has fragmented into two pieces, both are eventually removed. Still in danger, but stable, Koteshwar will live.

Suffocating Darkness

2010-03-13T07:11:00.000-08:00

Why should anybody do it ? But she did it. Its in the local newspapers today.

Usha now of 50 years of age, lived with her husband Ramesh, alone in their sprawling house. Their son lived in the USA and daughter was married and settled in Mumbai. So Usha would everyday go to the Jain Mandir for so many years now.

It was hot in the afternoon. She took an autorickshaw. When she offered Rs.50 for the round trip, the driver thought he was having a lucky day.

Usha alighted at the Mandir entrance and asked the driver to wait. Soon the driver fell asleep in the back seat of the auto. He was snapped out of the reverie of the dancing Rs.50 note, with Ramesh shaking him by the shoulder. "Have seen a middle-aged woman come to the Mandir", Ramesh was asking him. It was late, dark and the street lights were on.

"Yes, of course, I brought her," said the driver, alarmed.

"Well, I've looked for her everywhere and she is nowhere to be seen", said Ramesh. "I've even asked the caretaker's family and they have no clue." Except, yes except, thought Ramesh, for the pair of slippers like Usha's by the 13-inch open and abandoned borewell in the Mandir courtyard. "Oh my God!"

The administration took some time to swing into action. But in a couple of hours the police procured and lowered a camera with light down the borewell. There she was. Quick, lower the oxygen supply tube. She was motionless. Bringing her up was only technical frivolity.

CARLOS SLIM HELU - WHO IS HE?

2010-03-11T01:59:00.000-08:00

Carlos Slim Helu is presently the richest man in the world.

His worth has been quantified at US$ 53.5 billion which takes him above Bill Gates at US$ 53 Billion.

So is he an American?

No. Carlos Slim is not an American.

So does he belong to one of the developed countries like UK, Germany, France, Japan?

No, none of these.

The country he belongs to has a per capita income of $14,500 a year, and nearly 17% of the population lives in poverty. To put his achievement in the right perspective it will not be out of place to add that his wealth is the equivalent of roughly 2% of his country's annual economic output.

Yes we are talking Mexico.

But more important than that is the fact that he is an immigrant. How's that for enterprise?

Great is it not?

So from where does he actually come?

LEBANON - Surprise, Surprise.

In 1902, Julián Slim Haddad, father of Carlos Slim Helú, arrived in Mexico from Lebanon, all alone at 14 years of age, speaking no Spanish. Carlos Slim's mother, Doña Linda Helú was also Lebanese. These immigrants who arrived in Mexico at the end of the 19th century, brought the first Arabic printing press to Mexico and founded one of the first magazines for the Lebanese community in the country. Carlos was the youngest boy of six children.

Carlos Slim studied engineering but his entrepreneul skills were evident as by the time he was 26 years old, his net worth was $40 million.

He married Soumaya Domit Gemayel, also a Lebanese-Mexican, in 1967; they had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999.

The youngest daughter, Johanna, is married to Arturo Elías Ayub, a Syrian Lebanese and a board member of some of Slim's companies.

If you have been a student of history you will understand the link with Lebanon and the aggressive and smart trading. Yes, Lebanon was the starting point for the Phoenicians who were the first to explore the Mediterranean Sea route for trade. They were so good that even the Romans envied them.

Jumping Genes???

Reminds me of Carl Lewis! it's a very long jump.

Best regards,

Manoj

Vanilla Desires and Other Stories

2010-03-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

Vanilla Desires and Other Stories

2010-03-07T23:03:00.000-08:00

Hello,

The book is out and it would be nice if all of you can get your hands on the publication. The book contains 34 short stories encompassing the kaleidoscope of emotions from love, lust, hate, helplessness, pain and dejection.

The stories follow the confusing and complex thoughts of the protagonists, as they struggle with the strangeness in their ordinary lives.

The book contains prize winning entries of the 2009 UNISUN Short Story Competition and short stories by several other well established authors.

As expected I am proud to be part of the book.

My contribution to the anthology is through ‘In search of Durga’ a story where the relationship between man, woman, child and friend travel through a roller coaster along with the Durga Puja celebrations. The story is based in Bengal and has references to all my favourite places, the places which bring back special memories.

It is an attempt not only to document what I felt was plausible but also to give permanence to my memories of the places I love and people I know.

My writing short stories is an accident and every time I write my thoughts go back to Pandit Rameshwar Mishra, my great grand dad who was once upon a time considered to be the first writer to have written in ‘Khadi Boli’, the language of Bihar and UP at the time of independence. I believe he is the great guy who passed on his writing genes to me.

Unfortunately not much is known about his writing except for the word of mouth stories that have travelled in the family. It is understood that all copies of his book ‘Balwant Bhumiyar’ was put into a bonfire on the day of the publication and only a few advance copies/ drafts survived.
I have been trying to trace the book through my sources but have failed till now. It is but logical that all references to his name too have been removed from the history of Hindi Literature. I wish I will be able to do something about this matter as well.

While having a book of short stories on my own is part of my agenda my higher aim in life is to get back the story of ‘Balwant Bhumiyar’ in print.

I hope I succeed.

Best wishes,
Manoj

My short Story "In Search of Durga" getting published

2010-03-03T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I believe all my reading and writing is finally paying off.

My second short story "In Search of Durga" is part of the anthology "Vanilla Desires and other Stories" where I share space with well established and experienced writers.

When I had started on my jourey of writing short stories I had never thought of such a day. In fact I'll be honest and tell that I did not give myself any chance of getting published. When my first story "Victim of the Stock Market" got published in the anthology "The Shrinking Woman & Other Stories", I was over the moon. But, soon some comments from some of my supposed to be friends and well wishers brought me down to earth. The attack was so vicious and full of hate that I started feeling that I was not good enough and was just plain lucky to have found a compassionate publisher.

Friends said that "Victim .." was too short a story and was published because of the exotic idea of a writer residing in Kuwait would help sales.

I later analyzed the statement and felt that it lacked logic. First, the story was short but it was complete with detailed human angles. Second, an Indian writer writing about Kuwait would be exotic. But I was an ordinary Indian writing an Indian story and the exotic factor did not jell.

During this spell what kept me going was the encouragement I received. My brother Sanjay, my friend Sanjoy, my daughter, Ruchira and several other readers loved the story and said that I was capable of better stuff.

Without being immodest I must add that twice I have been told that I am a better writer than Chetan Bhagat. Although for me Chetan was a good writer only till 'Five point someone', I do believe that the guys who do rate me above him are complimenting my writing style.

I know I can improve a lot and think better but the journey till date has been fulfilling.

In the beginning my dream was to be published once. I got it with the publication of 'Victim..", the negative comments from some quarters about my actual ability as a writer and the positive feedback from some quarters made me modify my dream slightly and I had now dreamt of a second publication with a longer story.

It is about to come true with the publication of "In.." and now I believe that it is time I altered my dreams a bit more.

Am I being greedy? Stupid? Overambitious?

Let me think over these points as I ponder on my next dream.

Till then all those who read my blog keep reading and sending in your feedback.

Your reactions are valuable.

Best regards,

Manoj

J D SALINGER - THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

2010-02-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

Hello,

If you have not read 'The Catcher in the Rye' by JD Salinger you are missing something. I have not read it from the point of view of a critic and have no intention of praising it to the skies for the style and theme.

No I have no such intention. I have nothing serious to say on the book. All I want you to enjoy is the way the hero Holden Caulfield describes events places and people. It is a laugh riot.

A few samples:

Introducing his school:

Pencey Prep is this school in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. You probably heard of it. You've probably seen the ads anyway. They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence. Like as if all you ever did at Pencey was play polo all the time.

Talking about a game of football at Pencey:

I like to somewhere at least where you can see a few girls around once in a while, even if they're only scratching their arms or blowing their noses or even just giggling or something.

When his coat gets stolen:

The more expensive the school is, the more crooks it has - i'm not kidding.

Describing Old Spener, his History Teacher:

You never saw anybody nod as much in life as old Spencer did. You never knew if he was nodding alot because he was thinking and all or just because he was nice old guy that did'nt know his ass from his elbow.

His answer to a question on Egyptians:

The Egyptians were an ancient race of Caucasians residing in one of the northern sector of Africa. The latter as we all know is the largest continent in the eastern hemisphere. The Egyptians are extremely interesting to us today for various reasons. Modern science would still like to know what the secret ingredients were that the egyptians used when they wrapped up dead people so that their faces would not rot for innumerable centuries. This iteresting riddle is still quite a challenge to modern science in the twentieth century.

Dear Mr. Spencer, This is all I know about Egyptians. I cant seem to get very interested in them although your lectures are very interesting. It is all right with me if you flunk me though as I am flunking everything also except English anyway.

Respectfully yours,

Holden Caulfield.

If you find the above funny you just have to go through the build up to these to clutch your stomach from bursting of laughter.

A wonderful wonderful depiction of what goes through the head of teenagers.

I loved it when I read it first long long ago and all that. This time it really killed me. I'm not shooting crap. Just go through it and you will know why.

Best regards,

Manoj

SHARM EL SHEIKH - A HOLIDAY DESTINATION FOR THE LAZY

2010-02-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Sharm El Sheikh was our first destination in Egypt and to begin with we were looking forward to a fun filled Chirstmas Eve Dinner that was part of the holiday package we had booked.

Unfortunately our flight got delayed and when we reached our hotel it was almost midnight. As we had skipped dinner at Kuwait expecting to stuff ourselves later we were all hungry and tired by the time we checked into our rooms. 'Novotel' provided us with beautiful accommodation.

After getting into our night clothes we called the room service for food. The menu was limited and we had no option but to go for something called rice and grilled chicken and rice and kofta.

While in India Kofta is generally vegetarian, Kofta in the Arabic world is another name for beef. The grilled chicken was in the smallest portion possible and the rice was absolutely different from what we are used to. Anyway as beggars can't be choosers we made do with the available stuff. Luckily there were some grilled potato pieces. What I can say is that we slept on empty stomachs.

Next morning we woke up early and opened our room doors to a big balcony facing the hotel garden. The weather was wonderful and we were already hungry enough we got ready for breakfast by 8 AM. We had a good breakfast.

Although we were on the other side of the road from the beach it was no big deal as the walk to the beach was just a couple of minutes. I must also add that staying on the other side turned out to be a better option because the beach side was crowded and noisy as well.

The Hotel has a private beach and the view of the sea is wonderful. Putting on our snorkelling gear we entered the sea to witness an amazing marine habitat. The sea animals and corals provided an awesome mixture of colours. While we have always dealt with colours in our daily life getting to see it underwater is a different thrill. Ialways connect the sea to waves, sand and bottomless depths and therefore everytime I see the corals and the marine life I am amazed.

That afternnon we had decided that come what may we will find an Indian restaurant to fill our tummies. We were not very optimistic but took the chance of going to the main market place. Funny, but we had a big neon sign for an Indian Restaurant just next door to our hotel. Anyway we did make a trip to the market and found an Indian Restaurant there as well. The food was good.

We took a tour of the market, bought some stuff at Seven Eleven, purchased mementos and had delicious glasses of Sugarcane juice.

Sharm El Sheikh is built to attract tourists. They have good hotels all located on the beach side and a very small local population.

It is clean and we don't have hawkers tapping you on your back as you try to have a peaceful vacation by the seaside.

I regret having kept just one full day for the place as we missed out on the boat trips to islands nearby that could have given us better beaches and coral life.

Sharm El Sheikh is for people who love the sea, have money and have time to spare. A destination for lazing around.

Best regards,

Manoj

MY BEST BIRTHDAY

2010-02-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Yesterday was my birthday.

I will not disclose how many I have celebrated till now but this year it did seem to be different.

I had a lot of good wishes pouring in from my family and friends. Now that I am on Facebook and the date is prominently displayed in my profile I had wishes from several friends who till this year did not even know that I existed.

Ever since I started working (1985), my birthdays have been low key. The reason being that the official date is very different from the actual. Well, as my colleagues never picked up this date from the records they had no reason to wish me and I had no reason to celebrate.

This year it was different and my thoughts went back to my best birthday ever.

I remember that till in school my birthdays were big occassions, not only for me but also for my family and friends. The reasons I guess were as under:

I always had a birthday party and all of us would have a blast at home.
It was especially joyous during the olden days as this was one day I was assured of getting a new set of clothes. Not that we were in tatters for the remaining part of the year but getting a good set of shirt-pant was always special.
A lot of gifts.
Becoming the centre of attraction

My best birthday was when I was in Class IX:

I have fond memories of this birthday. Our gang of around 12 guys from a class of about 30 decided to make it extra special by bunking school. We had bunked class in small groups before, but all of us failed to realize that if 40% of the class is missing the absence is too conspicous. We had gathered at the school gates, making a big show of our intentions before cooly walking away, right under the gaze of our teachers, when the morning assembly got started.

Once out of School we were bereft of ideas and ended up spending almost half the day competeing against each other in all kinds of races at the sports field a mile away from school. The Ishapore Gun Factory staff who saw us thought we were practicing for some special sports event and I am sure word got back to school as well.

Then when we got tired of the running around we sat under the shade of tree opened our tiffins and had our lunch.

At 1:30 we were at the cinema watching 'Teesri Manzil'. I still believe that this is the best movie I have ever seen. What songs, romance, dances and suspense! But the most special memory is the gay abandon of adoloscence. I had not a care in the world and I had my friends around me. Such bliss! I can never remember of any other day in life that gave me more joy.

The evening started with the party at home and guys and girls from the neighbourhood all collected to make a huge happy crowd. Pankaj, another friend from school, who did not bunk that day, had also joined us with his guitar and we had a wonderful evening of song, dance and games. I had by then developed my own style of crazy dancing and most probably it was the first time I displayed it in public. It awed my audience and some steps became so popular that other guys would try and copy it at other occasions.

Next day the excitement continued and all of us (school bunkers) got called into the Principal's office where we gave different explanations for our absence from school. Mrs. Reba Basu (my favorite School Principal) could not help but smile at the ingenious excuses we invented. Finally she asked us all to go home and get letters from our parents explaining the absence. We once again gathered at the sports ground sat under the tree and contemplated on how to handle the situation. I succeeded in copying the signatures of the fathers of a few guys, Susmit, Lalit and Rakesh. I don't remember but most probably Vinod, Siddharth and Ravindra did their own dirty job while I also made a trip home and woke up my Uncle from his afternoon siesta and got his signature on my leave application before he realized what hit him.

Finally, our applications in order we trooped back to the Principal's office. Mrs. Basu, looked at the applications and said "Although I know that a few fathers are present here as well I will not talk to them and let you go back into your class". I promise you she was smiling all thorugh this sentence. "Twisting my ears she told me "Do you think I can not make out your hand writing."

I loved her then. She was beautiful! Pan stained teeth, a few missing, slightly bald, a little on the fatter side, manly voice, heart of gold. She knew that we had spend almost the entire day exercising our thigh muscles in the sports field. I am sure nobody told her about 'Teesri Manzil'.

Anyway all in all now even after 30 years I still remember every moment of that day and the memories become too bright on birthdays.

How I pray to have another birthday like that.

BEREFT BY ROBERT FROST

Where had I heard this wind before

Change like this to a deeper roar?

What would it take my standing there for,

Holding open a restive door,

Looking down hill to a frothy shore?

Summer was past and the day was past.

Sombre clouds in the west were massed.

Out on the porch's sagging floor,

Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,

Blindly struck at my knee and missed.

Something sinister in the tone

Told me my secret must be known:

Word I was in the house alone

Somehow must have gotten abroad,

Word I was in my life alone,

Word I had no one left but God.

EGYPT - THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

2010-01-25T21:29:00.000-08:00

Hello,

As promised I am back on the blog with my story of our trip to Egypt.

The highlight of course starts with the Pharaohs and continues with them through out.

The Pharaohs belived in life after death and I assure you that if you visit Egypt you will surely feel them come alive around you.

We started our tour at Sharm El Sheikh, which is a different world altogether. I will talk about this part of the trip later. I might add though that the experience was good but not as awesome as the remainder of the tour.

We landed in Cairo and were welcomed at the airport by our tour guide who informed us about our plans for the day. The plan was simple

A trip to the Museum and
A visit of the Pyramids.

A visitor to Egypt should visit the Museum. This Museum can boast of the largest number of artefacts and the portion that is dedicated to the Boy King 'Tutankhamen' can make your eyes bulge out in astonishment.

Pharaohs, as I have said earlier, were buried in Pyramids and tombs. They started with Pyramids but later when they realized that Pyramids were being targetted by thieves they shifted to tombs in an area near Luxor called the 'Valley of the Kings'. Archeologists have been able to identify and dig out 62 tombs till date and only five such tombs are open for the viewing public.

While the Pharaohs were sure that the Valley was a well kept secret and I am sure it did survive their reign, it did get the attention of the bounty hunters afterwards and almost all the tombs were looted. The Tomb of Tutankhamen is significant as this was the only one that escaped the attention of the thieves. All the treasure that was buried along with the King was found intact and most of them are now displayed in the Museum in Cairo. It is understood that some of the artefacts have found their way to museums in the western world as well.

But it is not the treasure that is important. It is the workmanship of the ancient Egyptian that leave you awe struck.

The pyramids are huge structures rising above the sandy soil like a mountain. The fact that this mountain is built by men like us make us wonder. The boulders used are almost cubical in shape and measure about 6 feet on all sides. It is difficult to fathom the technique they might have used to move these boulders from the hills to the site and then place them on top of each other.

But that is not all. The pyramids have a passage carved out in the boulders and there are a couple of rooms of the size of a modern bedroom within the structure. The science of weight, design, etc, was so well understood by the builders that their creation stand in their original grandeur even after the passage of so many years.

If the graudeur and scale of the Pyramids was mind boggling I feel the Pharaohs and their architects outdid themselves at the 'Valley of the Kings'. The tombs cut out into the belly of small rocky hills are examples of master craftsmanship and artistry. They camouflaged the tombs and the passage to the actual tomb in one case had a a booby trap also. It was so very well thought out and scientific but it is also the art in the form of paintings and sculptures in the belly of the hills astonishes you. All the tombs have been robbed except one.

Do you know why the thieves were not able to trace the tomb of Tutankhamen?

Coming up next.

Best regards,

Manoj

LOVE STORY - Do you remember Erich Segal

2010-01-20T02:44:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Erich Segal, writer and academic, was born on June 16, 1937. He died of a heart attack on January 17, 2010, aged 72.

A Classics professor and author of scholarly books on the Ancient Greeks and Romans he knocked off a little novel called Love Story during his holidays. The book ended up being a bestseller in USA in 1970 and then becoming a high grosser film in 1971.

Read the start and you get hooked to it.

“What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.”

Sometimes an author, an artist, a scientist and / or any living Human Being comes up with something so exceptional that it even surpasses his wildest dreams. 'Love Story' was one of such events.

Segal taught classics at Yale University got inspired by a conversation he overheard in 1968 about a girl who supported her husband through graduate school and then died. “I sat down and started writing immediately,” he said. “The story poured out of me.”

The success of Love Story surprised virtually everyone, particularly in the movie business, where it was felt that such old-fashioned weepies were outdated.

But the themes of love against the odds, parental disapproval, misunderstandings and the cruel hand of fate, in the form of leukaemia, remained as powerful as ever. The public appreciated the book, its simple style and emotions, but it proved too big a challenge for many critics (though not all). Several judges threatened to resign if it were not removed from consideration for the National Book Award. They got their way.

Erich Segal will live in the hearts of every youngster who has experienced true love.

Best regards,

Manoj

Martin Luther King Day

2010-01-18T21:06:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day is celebrated today (18/01/2010) all across USA.

King was born Michael King Jr. but later, his father Michael King Sr., changed both names to Martin Luther in honor of the German Protestant Leader.

King was born on January 15, 1929 and assasinated on 4th April 1968. The Martin Luther King Day is celbrated on the third Monday of January every year since 1986. The prejudice against blacks can be gauged by the fact that although the proclamation was signed in 1983, the first time it was celebrated all across the 500 states in America was as late as 2000.

Technically without a High School certificate, King received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1951.

He is the most celebrated civil rights leader for blacks in America and had to pay for his activism with his life. He started his activism through the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and is likened to Mahatma Gandhi for his preference for non-violent resistance.

In 1964 he became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace prize.

He had excellent oratory skills and his speech 'I have a Dream' is considered one of the most important speeches made on racial discimination in USA. Delivered on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and it was a defining moment for the American Civil Rights Movement. There are many quotes from the speech that are recognized as an important part of American history.

The entire speech is moving and full of quotes and key phrases that are now a very important part of history.

"It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual."

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

"This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day."

When King died in 1968 he was just 39 years old but according to the Doctor he had a heart of a sixty year old.

But his life has not been without controversy. a 1980 inquiry revealed that portions his doctorate thesis on "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman" had been plagiarized.

King was a compulsive womanizer and accused of having several extra-marital affairs. In fact this was one of major weapon the FBI was planning to use against him to remove King from the leadership of the movements on civil rights.

King's biographer David Garrow detailed what he called King's "compulsive sexual athleticism." Garrow wrote about numerous extramarital affairs, including one with a woman King saw almost daily. According to Garrow, "that relationship, rather than his marriage, increasingly became the emotional centerpiece of King's life, but it did not eliminate the incidental couplings that were a commonplace of King's travels." King explained his extramarital affairs as "a form of anxiety reduction".

Today we celebrate the birth of this extraordinary personality who in a sense paved the way for Barrack Obama becoming the President of the USA.

Best regards,

Manoj

THE JYOTI IS EXTINGUISHED - MAY HE LIVE IN OUR HEARTS

2010-01-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

Hello,

One of the most honest, hard working and popular leaders in Indian politics, Comrade Jyoti Basu departed for his heavenly abode at 96.

His popularity can be gauged from the fact that even after a decade of being away from active politics his death brought mourners from across the country representing all sections of society. Jyoti Babu, was born in an Aristrocratic Bengali family and studied Law in London but came back and lead a communist combination to power in 1977. As Chief Minister he become the longest serving Chief Minister of any Indian state and retired from active politics in 2000 due to poor health. This was exemplary as generally Indian politicians retire only when cremated or buried.

In 1996 he had an opportunity to become the Prime Minister of India but a 'historic blunder' caused by the short sightedness of the communist leadership deprived him of this deserving appointment. He could have easily lead a revolt then but his dedication and obedience to the party was never questionable and he let this opportunity pass by.

Jyoti Babu brought in land reforms in West Bengal that provided land to several landless people and his 'Fabian Socialism' made him popular amongst the masses. Although there have been question marks over his contribution to the stagnation of the Industrial growth and flight of business from the state it can never be disputed that he was the king who was popular and supreme.

His charisma can also be judged by the fact that after his stepping down from Chief Ministership, the Communists in Bengal are facing an opposition that is growing stronger by the day and we are also witnessing the growth in Maoist activities which means that the party is being gnawed from both sides. While it is loosing its support in the bigger towns to other main stream opposition parties, the villages are getting influenced by the maoist machine operating with the poor people.

Let us pray for peace to his soul and may he be reborn, more capable, for the benefit of our motherland.

Best regards,

Manoj

MY TRIP TO EGYPT

2010-01-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

Hello,

The last week of December was spent in Egypt. We visited Sharm El Sheikh - a modern snorkelling and Scuba diving destination and then moved on to the ancient with visits to Cairo, Aswan and Luxor.

The trip was fabulous overall but there were some notes which were not so musical. I will post my experience in bits and pieces over the next couple of days so that people visitng the place can have some idea of what to look for when there.

Best regards,
Manoj

IS OSAMA BIN LADEN SPANISH

2010-01-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

Hello,

After initially claiming to have used cutting edge technology to come up with a photofit image of Osama Bin Laden in his 50s, the FBI has now admitted that all that they did do was to use the usual cut/paste option and lift features of left-wing politician Gaspar Llamazares. Gasper isa member of Spain’s Communist party and a critic of the US “war on terror". He was astonished and said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the United States.

“I was surprised and angered because it’s the most shameless use of a real person to make up the image of a terrorist,” he said.“It’s almost like out of a comedy, if it didn’t deal with matters as serious as Bin Laden and citizens’ security.”Llamazares intends to ask the US government for an explanation and is considering legal action. He said he has “no similarity, physically or ideologically, to Bin Laden”.

Meanwhile all the intelligence of the FBI has not been able to give them a single clue on where Osama is hiding. They say he in the hills dividing Afghanistan with Pakistan, but no one seems to know where. The attacks by the extremists group led by him continue unabated and get sophisticated (or simple enough) to get through the radar and other vigilance systems used by the west.

Can the US actually win the "war on terror" or is it a ploy to continue the arms production and interference policy.

Best regards,

Manoj

MY MOTHER IS AN UGLY WOMAN

2010-01-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Read a wonderful blog with the above title. The link to the blog is here and all Indians should read it once: http://www.mindtree.com/subrotobagchi/my-mother-is-an-ugly-woman/.

The writer narrates his experience at a student seminar in Germany and tells us how disappointed he was when he heard an educated, well placed Indian trying to tell the German listeners about Indian habits.

I am not sure if all of us will actually agree with the sentiments of the writer but I do agree that the blog is well written and the sentence where the writer connects to the readers by mentioning 'mother' does pull the heartstrings. I also found the speech of the Ugly Indian interesting and humorous.

Humor is at its best when people have the ability to laugh at themselves. It is therefore not surprising that a comedian gets the loudest laughs when he potrays himself as a bumbling fool.

The Ugly Indian speaker who is potrayed to be inconsiderate and lacking in love for the motherland has actually done a wonderful job of making people laugh by becoming the butt of jokes himself. He, I feel, did fine till his error about Indians not being honest with their intentions.

There are jokes about how Indians can never form an orderly line and how like the crab they keep trying to pull down the other and how they will go to the extremes to save money.

These are fine. There is nothing wrong with such stories as these can be replicated for many other countries. We joke about stingy Indians, crabby Indians and unruly Indians ourselves.

But what is absolutely wrong is his joke about Indians inviting people and then not being ready. 'Athiti Devo Bhava' - 'The visitor is God' is engrained in every Indian mind and even an unexpected visitor can never go empty handed from an Indian house.

Except for this error the other things are normal and even this joke, although not applicable, did click because the people could connect with it. Every society and country have people who say things they do not mean. Germans of all people - the people who showed brutality towards their own people and lead to the world war II can hardly be the country who can treat others with disdain.

People can laugh at the Indian way as it is so different from the western way. It is stupid to say that just because we do not do things the western way we are not to be taken seriously. It is in this context that I remember the interview Aishwarya Rai did with David Letterman. DL tried to joke about the fact that Aishwarya at 26 was still staying with her parents. His statement made the audience roar with laughter but what Aiswarya said next made the studio go quiet and then the applause was deafening. She said something like "Yes I stay with my parents. This way I do not have to take an appointment with them for having dinner together."

What she pointed out was that just because we are different does not mean that we are disadvantaged in any way. She also made it clear that she saw advantage in the difference.

My mother may be an ugly woman but I love her. Just because I joke about my siblings does not make me a mother hater.

Best regards,

Manoj

IN SUPPORT OF TIGER WOODS

2009-12-23T00:31:00.000-08:00

Hello,

It is so easy to point fingers but so difficult to look beyond.

Tiger Woods and his women set me thinking.

I am sure Tiger was not looking only for sex. If it had been DISCRETE SEX he could have donned the best disguise and paid in cash for the costliest prostitute in the world.

Why did he leave traces as big as the footprints of the Yeti?

Was it intentional? Did he do it because he wanted to be in the position he is right now? Was he actually in a bad marriage? He did say so to many of his women.

Tiger Woods is an exceptional golf player. He was worshipped by fans all over the world, he was paid handsomely by the advertisers. Why did he put all of this on the 'Guillotine'?

I am sure he is not bird brained not to realize the consequences of his action.

He always has the spotlight on him and there is no way he could have thought that he would get away without being noticed.

So why?

Why did he risk his marriage for the several affairs he had?

The answer seems simple.

He was not happy in his marriage.

Now the question obviously is why did he not divorce his wife before he started on his affairs?

The answer to this is difficult and Tiger is the only person who can answer this accurately but most probably a wild guess would say that he did so because he did not have the guts and opted the easy way out by doing something that would automatically lead to the same result.

Now, he would be a brave man if he stood by his transgressions, did not bow down to the social pressure of trying to keep the marriage alive and got himself free from the relationship that had failed to bind him.

Best regards,

Manoj

BARCELONA LET DOWN

2009-12-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Yesterday, 21/12, was a day I was badly let down by FC Barcelona.

I had waited for this match between FC Barcelona and Kazama of Kuwait for almost a week and arranged for two tickets for my son and myself. The excitement at the ground before the start of the game was extraordinary and it was hard to believe that a crowd of a mere 20,000 could create such a ruckus. We made mexican waves and shouted and clapped to the rythm of the music playing and everyone had their cameras out for the wonderful fireworks. The noise was at its best when the FC Barcelona team with Puyol, Henry, Jeffrey and others made their appearance for the photo shoot.

I was disappointed at not seeing Messi, the magician, but the disappointment was magnified when only Bojan, Milito and Jeffren of the main team made an appearance in the playing eleven.

The pace was slow and during part of the game Kazma managed to keep possession and dominate proceedings. It was infact in line with the proceedings that the game ended in a 1-1 draw with Abdullah of Kazma scoring a wonderful flick goal in the dying minutes of the game.

Abdullah earns himself a place in Kuwaiti folklore.

Thank God I did not pay for the tickets. When I think of the entertainment and fun my son and I had at the stadium I am satisfied that I had the KD 35/= tickets at KD 150/= each it would have really hurt.

Best regards,

Manoj

Global Investment House - Restructuring completed

2009-12-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Not many people outside the GCC would know much about Global Investment House (GIH). But it was big.

Before the global financial crisis hit the Banks in America, Europe and then the other smaller markets, it was one of the leading Investment Banks in the region with a reputation strong and big enough to attract investors from Europe. Ms. Maha Al Ghunaim, the chairperson of this company was listed in the 100 most powerful business women in the world by Forbes in 2008.

The Global crisis induced a financial road block as Banks refused to renew exposures and recalled their debts which lead to a default by the Company. It also became evident that several strange investments meant that not much could be said about the asset quality.

But when everything seemed lost, Global has risen Pheonix like - The banks who refused to renew exposures in December 2008 signed a restructuring agreement in December 2009, which allow the Company the time they require to tie up their laces and get back into the race. The Banks are benefitted as their exposures are now secured by assets of the Company and there is a lot more transparency in the operations for Banks to forsee any misadventure in the future.

Best of luck to Global Investment House and the employees working there.

Manoj

EXCITEMENT

2009-12-05T21:25:00.001-08:00

Hello,

I am excited about the visit of Ruchira, my daughter to Kuwait.

She is coming here on a short vacation, and most probably, will use her trip here to relax, sleep and shop.

She will be with us after a gap of 6 months and although we have video chatted on the internet almost everyday, there is something mental about the matter.

Best regards,
Manoj

27/11/2009 - Kuwait at a Farm House

2009-11-28T00:16:00.000-08:00

26/11/2009 in Kuwait - By the Sea

2009-11-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

Hypocricy - Unconscious bias

2009-11-01T01:43:00.000-07:00

Hello,

In a gathering on Thursday we discussed two topics.

One: MF Hussain getting Government nod about security cover on coming to India and whether he should be excused for his excessively sexual potrayal of Hindu Gods and Goddess.

Second: The growing menace of the Maoist and whether their being asked to come to the negotiation table is correct.

Most of us were liberal, secular, democratic, timid and Pseudo intellectuals who thrive on our ability to accept every attrocity with open arms.

Not surprisingly, a majority said that MF Hussain has done no wrong. Most felt that he was being targetted because he was from the minority (22% of the population and still minority). Few said that what wrong has he done when what he actually did was replicating what has been done in Ajanta & Ellora. Some felt that what he has done is less vulgar than heroines posing semi-nude for gods and goddess in films and calendars.

It was felt that MF Hussain has freedom of expression as an artist and no one has the right to stop him from doing so.

When it was pointed out that the world does not tolerate such expression (eg: the protest of sikhs against Dera chief for dressing as their Guru and the Dane being pulled up for the cartoon on Islam) and that MF Hussain has been selective about his liberties, they claimed that there ought to be difference between a moderate, secular viewpoint and a radical fanatical outlook. For them the protest against the paintings was a radical outburst that needed to be condemned.

We then taked about the Maoist and how they were killing inncoent people and getting away with it. When some expressed anguish at the Governments decision to bend and call them for a dialogue, most of the others protested saying that the maoist had no option and they were taking up arms because they have been exploited, abused, insulted.

Now if you look at the discussion it will be obvious that while on one side the group preaches tolerance and avoidance of any protest on the other side it sympathises with perpetrators of aimless violence.

Selective bias, is it not.

Could anyone sympathize with the maoist if their son was killed. Would you sit without protesting if MF Hussain had painted your mother, your sister, your wife, your daughter naked.

So why do you have such opinions my friend.

All because it is you are not personally affected.

Best regards,

Manoj

Election, your choice

2009-10-29T23:06:00.001-07:00

My dear friend,

I’ve not called a spade a shovel. We’ve kept our promise of giving you the choice. How can you make the choice unless we place some truths before you.

You, my friend, should know that the Association has taken a loan of Rs.50 lacs. Meaning thereby, there is not only no funds, there is lien on future membership subscription receipts. In State Bank of Indore, with half the number of officers, their Association is having a fund of Rs.8 crores.

Another matter, where is now the Qualis car the Association had purchased ?

You have been looted my dear friend. There are many more skeletons they are hiding. Change is necessary.
People who have run the Association for 20 years on the basis of community politics, are strangely now speaking of caste. But if you look at the composition, we are a more consciously balanced lot. They would have loved, we had no base.

A friend

Sanjoy

PS:-

Team for Change: Vote for the Panel for Merger :

Ashok Meena (President)
D. S. Ujjwal (Vice_President)
Santosh Kumar Sharma (General_Secretary)
Sanjoy Gupta (Treasurer)
C. L. Jonwal (Organizational Sec)
Sunil Kumar Gupta (Zonal Sec - Bikaner)
Vijay Kumar Rajora (Zonal Sec -Delhi)
Surendra Singh (Zonal Sec - Jaipur)
Man Singh Kachhawaha (Zonal Sec - Jodhpur)
K L Meena (Zonal Sec -Kota)
J. P. Sharma (Zonal Sec -Mumbai)
Ram Ratan Meena (Zonal Sec -Udaipur)

MF HUSSAIN - HYPOCRICY UNVEILED

2009-10-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Find below the masterpieces by our famous painter MF Hussain.

Goddess Durga in sexual union with Tiger

Prophet's Daughter Fatima fully clothed

Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh's head

M.F. Hussain's Mother fully clothed

Naked Saraswati

Mother Teresa fully clothed

Naked Shri Parvati

Hussain's Daughter well clothed

Naked Draupadi.

Well clothed Muslim Lady.

Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana Muslim poets Faiz, Galib are shown well-clothed

Full Clad Muslim King and naked Hindu Brahmin.

The above painting clearly indicates Hussain's tendency to paint any Hindu as naked and thus his hatred. But the height is the painting of Naked Bharatmata -

Hussain has shown naked woman with names of states written on different parts of her body. He has used Ashok Chakra, Tri-colour in the painting. By doing this he has violated law & hurt National Pride of Indians.

Both these things should be of grave concern to every Indian irrespective of his religion.

He says nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour. But is it not strange that only Hindu gods and Goddesses are singled out for this purity and honour.

Now look at the last picture. There are four leaders in the picture.

Out of the four leaders M. Gandhi is decapitated and Hitler is naked. Hussain hates Hitler and has said in an interview 8 years ago that he has depicted Hitler naked to humiliate him and as he deserves it !

How come Hitler's nudity cause humiliation when in Hussain's own statement nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour !

This shows Hussain's perversion and hypocrisy.

When a person dresses like a Sikh Guru, thousands of Sikhs gather and destroy their establishments , threaten to kill him, announce a bounty on his head.

If a Danish journalist depicts the Prophet of the Muslims , Muslims all over the world rise in anger, there is violence, a booty on the head of the Journalist.

But if MF Hussain draws paintings depicting Hindu Gods and Goddesses in sexual positions (which relations are not borne out by ancient texts at all ) and Hindus merely protest , they are called communal, intolerant and taught lessons in secularism by one and all.

The problem with Hindus is that they accept what ever is dished out, they do not have the guts to say that this is wrong , they seek acceptance from outsiders rather than standing for their religion.

We worship the same Gods and Goddesses but don't stand up for them when the time comes.

Is it a matter of shame when you do not stand for your religion, your faith and your God.

Manoj

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. ~Harold Wilson

2009-10-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

My dear sir, my dear friend,

Someone who begins on a loan of Rs.35,000 at the beginning of his political career, ends up as owner of petrol pumps, cold storage, medical stores and real estate agencies when he retires 20 years afterwards, on the salary of a bank officer, and we meekly salute him. Shame on us !

No wonder, bank officers are the softest targets of society today. Everyone throws a punch at us in passing. And nobody really seems serious to even save the faces of our so-called netas with a whatever wage settlement.

We have an election before us, after 20 long years, at last a chance to have it out man. Throw out these fellows who have brought us to this plight.

Of course, as W. Edwards Deming had said, “it is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”

Seriously, we’ll change, we’ll thrive. We seek merger, the mother of all changes. So vote not only against the existing netas, but also against those handful of guys who have no chance of winning except fragmenting the voters a little bit.

We’ve brought you a decisive choice at last. Come on, it is your turn now to use it.

A friend

Sanjoy Gupta

PS :

Team for Change: Vote for the Panel for Merger :

Ashok Meena (President)
D. S. Ujjwal (Vice_President)
Santosh Kumar Sharma (General_Secretary)
Sanjoy Gupta (Treasurer)
C. L. Jonwal (Organizational Sec)
Sunil Kumar Gupta (Zonal Sec - Bikaner)
Vijay Kumar Rajora (Zonal Sec -Delhi)
Surendra Singh (Zonal Sec - Jaipur)
Man Singh Kachhawaha (Zonal Sec - Jodhpur)
K L Meena (Zonal Sec -Kota)
J. P. Sharma (Zonal Sec -Mumbai)
Ram Ratan Meena (Zonal Sec -Udaipur)

Books worth reading - The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

2009-10-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

I read Wilkie Collins “The Woman in White” on the recommendation of my dear friend Mariam Karim.

Before getting to the book I would first like to give a brief description on the writer. Wilkie Collins was born in London in 1824, the eldest son of the landscape painter. He had worked in tea business and entered to read for the bar at Lincoln's Inn. The legal knowledge he acquired was used in his writings.
He was a friend of Charles Dickens, acting with him, contributing to ‘Household Words’ and traveling with him on the Continent. Dickens produced and acted in two melodramas written by Collins, The Lighthouse (1855) and The Frozen Deep (1857). Dickens also edited “The Woman in White”.
Besides “The Woman in White” (1860) Wilkie Collins also wrote “The Moonstone” (1868), which T. S. Eliot called 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. His novels ‘The New Magdalen’ (1873) and ‘The Law and The Lady’ (1875) were considered rather sensational novels for its time.
Collins also braved the moral censure of the Victorian age by keeping two women (and their households) while marrying neither.
He died in 1889.

“The Woman in White”
First of all I would like to say that once I started reading the novel, I wanted to complete it. A sure shot sign of the book being to my liking.

The book is divided into chapters and sub-chapters and reads like a television serial. Some readers have also likened it to a Soap Opera. Later I found out that the book was first published in a serialized form.

The advantages of the form being that at every break there was something to look forward to. The disadvantage being that every break was built up in an elaborate fashion which did not suit the novel format. The passages just before the break became long drawn and tempted you to skip them and exactly when you begin to think that you are near some discovery, the book takes you back into the spider web.

The novel is a Victorian Age tale of an ordinary drawing master and an heiress in love and their adventures, both forced and self imposed, mixed up with murder, conspiracy, lunacy, illness, affairs and a ‘look alike’ thrown in. The good win at the end, and the bad, although smarter all the while, get screwed by destiny in the end. Melodramatic it is.

Sample this for intrigue:

A man put his head from the window and asked: "Have you seen a woman pass this way-a woman in white? She has escaped from my asylum."

These lines make you look ahead and several times in the novel we have starts like this which keeps our interest.

We have characters like Laura Glyde nee Fairlie and Walter Hartright (lovers who separate at the start to reunite at the end) Marian Halcombe (the intelligent sister of Laura), Pesca (the bubbly Italian friend of Walter), who love selflessly and then we have characters like Sir Percival Glyde (The impostor Baronet and husband of Laura), Count Fosco (An Italian in exile and friend of Sir Percival) whose devotion to another is based on logical calculations. We have fringe players enacting the roles of lawyers, doctors, asylum keepers, nurses, housekeepers, etc, who help in the story of Anne Catherick (Laura Glyde’s look- alike and ‘The Woman in White’), reaching its conclusion.

In short it is story of the desperadoes Sir PG and Count F, Short of money, getting the better of LG and MH, pocketing LG’s inheritance and her identity, till WH comes back into the story to set things right. Sir PG is done in by his obstinacy and meets his death at the place of his original crime, while Pesca unwittingly scares Count F to his end.

Some of the quotes that are worth mentioning are:

But the Law is still, in certain inevitable cases, the pre-engaged servant of the long purse.
Some of us rush through life, and some of us saunter through life. Mrs. Vesey sat through life.
The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared.
"I am a citizen of the world, and I have met, in my time, with so many different sorts of virtue, that I am puzzled, in my old age, to say which is the right sort and which is the wrong."
Women can resist a man's love, a man's fame, a man's personal appearance, and a man's money, but they cannot resist a man's tongue when he knows how to talk to them.
The best men are not consistent in good--why should the worst men be consistent in evil?

All in all a book you will read from cover to cover.

A Golden Opportunity for Change in SBBJ called Elections

2009-10-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

My dear Brother-Officer,

When is the last time we've had a proper election to the Officers' Association in SBBJ ? This time there'll be one, because Ashok Meena some years back accepted the challenge and tirelessly built up a strong base by working for his guys. And now in his political maturity he has launched a Team for Merger comprising of Shri Santosh Kumar Sharma, a veteran of SBBJ political arena and myself, Sanjoy Gupta, a new comer to politics.

Originally what inspired us was the common plank for merger. The net benefit which will accrue to all of us once SBBJ is merged with SBI is known to all of us to be quite huge. We also now know that after forcing us into strikes against merger and making us suffer salary cuts on that account repeatedly, suddenly the existing office bearers have turned in favour of so-called merger "at par". Obviously their heart is not in it because the understanding which has been reached between the two prominent office bearers is that the one who'll be President will also be the Officer Director, but if there will be merger then where'll be the position of the Director left.

One of our election pledge is therefore, that none of our office bearers will be the Director. We undertake to keep not only this but all our activities and accountings democratic and transparent. We have had excess of the rule by a small group of netas for so many years when a handful of officers have cornered all the privileges and benefits. We seek to overturn that. Why should you and I only suffer while they enjoy unjustly all the fruits of our labour.

Today, the fact at the branches, the BPR centers and everywhere where brother officers are working with dead sincere dedication and for very very long hours, is that, officers are being mercilessly squeezed from all directions, officers are being silently killed with high BP, diabetes, heart problems. And the compensation is not even 54% of what the equivalent state government employee gets. And what does our existing office bearers of the Association do ? Become half-management and exert more pressure on the officers !! Why not leave the management do its job to increase business, to do this also and that also. You do your job. And what is the job of the Association ? It is obviously to represent its members. It is to jump into help every brother officer who is in any sort of suffering and/or facing any sort of injustice. It is for the Association to speak up with courage against the mindless exploitation of the meek innocent officers’ community that is taking place today day in and day out.

But this will not happen if the present set of office bearers who have developed rigid vested interests in the present set up and arrangements, are not thrown out in this election. Our team is the only team having the base capable of doing that. But unless friends like you join us and help us actively, this will not happen. So do reply to this mail to encourage us and keep us posted of how we can be useful to you.

A friend

Sanjoy Gupta

PS :-

the old & original
PANEL FOR MERGER IN SBBJ
Aboa : unit sbbj, election – 2009-12
THE PLEDGE
merger without any ifs and buts
complete parivartan
· · In first week, we shall pass Resolution for Merger and submit to management to be placed before Board of the Bank for approval.
· No question of ever again stupidly resorting to strikes against merger.
· · Quick relief and welfare will be brought to each and every brother-officer facing injustice or suffering.
· Postings will be got changed as per dignity due and desire.
· Officer Director shall not be any one of the office-bearers.
· Monthly subscription shall be reduced to Rs.50/- from Rs.75/-.
· Group insurance for all officers free of cost.
· There will be democracy and transparency in all our activities and accounts.

The Team : SK Sharma-Ashok Meena-Sanjoy Gupta

Openly Supporting : Dr Anoop Goyal, CP Joshi, Parijat Saurabh, Pushpendra Nath Pandey, KS Rekhi, CR Das, Sudipto Bannerjee, RC Mishra, SK Singh, Gautam Prakash, RS Chauhan, PK Mohanty, NS Sharma, DS Ujjawal, RK Kankhedia, JP Sharma, Sanjay Sandhu, Mohan Meghwal, Suresh Chand Gupta, TP Pandey, Ghanshyam Meena, BR Meghwal,
-- "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." (Paulo Coelho) This is our chance to complete parivartan. Vote whole-heartedly for the team for merger (without any ifs and buts) of ASHOK MEENA-SK SHARMA-SANJOY GUPTA

David Letterman - Holier than thou

2009-10-06T11:36:00.001-07:00

ELECTIONS IN SBBJ

2009-09-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Elections in SBBJ used to be a dull and drab affair with Sanghi and company always sweeping the polls and winning by huge margins. In my fifteen years in SBBJ (1985-2000) I remember only one election when a viable opposition had come up but they lost because the opposition was from more or less people with similar attitude who had cobbled up a team against Sanghi because they were not getting the taste of power which Sanghi dominated through distribution of assignments to his stooges.

Sanghi also had the power backing of the Jains, who blindly voted for him against assurances of plum assignments.

The 2009 elections appear to be going in a different direction. As already done in SBH, the group which is openly pro merger is challenging the hegomony of the Sanghi group and for the first time the Sanghi camp is actually jittery.

My friend Sanjoy is part of the team which has put up the challenge and I really appreciate the guts these new faces in SBBJ politics have exhibited.

Sanjoy and his team have the right agenda and designs and it would be interesting to see if the officers of SBBJ can see beyond caste and petty assignments.

Best wishes to Sanjoy and his entire team.

Manoj

CHANGE IN BANK TIMINGS

2009-09-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hello,

When I first came to Kuwait in 2006 the timings for the Bank was 7.30 AM to 2.30 PM.
The weekends were Friday and Saturday.

This was extremely convinient as we brought our breakfast to office and reached home by 3.00 PM which was the right time to have lunch and retire for the afternoon siesta.

It was also very convenient for people having work at ministries as the ministries worked on Saturdays. Their weekends were Thursdays and Fridays.

What was actually happening was that Banks were getting almost a three day weekend as Thursdays used to be relaxed with no ministry related work getting done.

The government got jealous of the workers in Banks and decided that we should have work on Thursdays and changed their weekends to Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile the Management in Banks also felt that the long afternoon siesta was making the employees lethargic and therefore they plotted to make things uncomfortable for us by increasing the timings by half an hour to end at 3.00 PM.

Earlier, leave on festivals were the same for ministries and Banks. If the ministries closed for 5 days then Banks did likewise but this year on Eid the ministries closed for five days but banks closed for 3 days only.

Now from 27th September, Banks will work from 8 AM to 4 PM. Another increase by half an hour.

This will reduce either our siesta time or the time we get to spend with the family in the evening by an hour and most probably lead to presence of grumpy employees.

But I have faith in the ability of the Management to change course midstream and I hope they analyze the disadvantages of the time change at the earliest and get back to the old timings for happy and productive employees.

Hoping for the best,
Manoj

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS.

2009-09-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

Manoj says, write down your thoughts and repeat it to yourself every night and morning till it registers into your subconscious. Let your inherent skills take over, do not let this weapon be shadowed by doubts and let it lead you to success.

Manoj says, this can be best exemplified by the story of Eklavya.

Why not Rakhi Sawant, Manoj? She is a brand. She is brazen, believes in herself, never wanted to be known as a sati savitri, has gone in for breast implants (did she really need it?), has comfortable played a transvestite on screen and is philosophical. We might be tempted to scoff at her. But Rakhi Sawant is an achiever.

If there’s one thing anyone can learn from Rakhi Sawant, it is confidence and its display. She knows what to tell the media and how. All in the name of modesty and frankness, of course.

Yes, Rakhi, more comfortable in Hindi ("I am not very well educated"), can get dirty with words. And yes, that doesn't come as a surprise. Some samples: 'Main jab sets par jati hoon, to acche acche log kaamp jate hain', 'Mujhe koi shauk nahi hai ki log mujhe sati savitri bulayen. I am very happy being called the hottie', 'When I meet aunties, they tell me: aadmiyon ko chorro, jab hum tumhe dekhte hain, to humme bhi paseena aa jata hain', 'It's not easy to expose. I am proud of myself. I'm not a hypocrite. I say what I have to. How many people have the courage to do that?' 'Mere andar tezaab hai.' Be honest. Speak your mind. But most of the other times, use loaded words to titillate people and hog attention.

Her father has disowned her. Rakhi now lives with her mother Usha, who was once a Gujarati heroine. "My mother is very proud of me. My father disowned me. I disowned him too. What else could have I done? I struggled and struggled. I was clear about my goal. I wasn't born to be just someone's wife and bear his kids. I never wanted to known as a sati savitri. I respect my father's decision. Agar kisi ki bhi beti aise karti to woh kya karte. He is right. But I am right too. Hum sab apni apni bhumika nibha rahein hain. I will not tell anyone to go against her/his parent. But when you are sure of yourself and your goal AND you know you will get there someday, but your parents still create issues for you, then go ahead with your conviction. I am sad that my father is not with me. But I am very happy with what I have achieved in my life. I jump with joy when people call me a sex symbol. I got what I wanted."

If you have to make it big, almost all gurus of the galaxy will tell you to have faith in yourself. Rakhi Sawant, however, gives a new meaning to the word confidence. "The only thing that can make anyone successful in Bollywood is hard work. I had to struggle for years before making a name for myself. I just didn't give up. There are many more girls out there who expose. Why are they not making it big? My success is not just because of exposing. Mere char minute ke gaane mein logon ko sab kuch milta hain." Sab kuch? "Sex, glamour, dance, talent, expression. When the time comes, I can show my talent even with clothes." Point noted. Be confident. Just show the world your over confident side. Competition is one word that doesn't exist in her dictionary. "When you talk of item girls, there is just no competition. Even JLo is nothing in front me."

As a member of Mumbai police, Mr Sawant, Rakhi's father according to her, never made more than Rs 4-5,000 a month. "We were not even a middle class family. We didn't even have the money to pay rent." But Rakhi claims money was never a motivation for her. "I always wanted to do something in life. Not for money. Because I wanted to become somebody." Ask her how much she is worth and pat comes the reply. "Kai crore kamain hain yaar. All my songs are hit. I pay income tax and everything." No figure there. "I have bought three flats with my money. I gifted one each to my mother and brother. Paise ka kya hai.. I was alone and I will be alone all my life." Chase money. Just don't admit it.

"I believe in Ganpati, Jesus and my guruji. He has told me ki meri achchi takdeer ab shuru hue hai. Can you imagine? I have only seen forty per cent of the success God has in store for me?" A permanent feature in her room is the piece of paper on which guruji has written the things she is supposed to do. She even wears clothes according to days. It's white on Mondays and purple on Sundays.

So there, Rakhi Sawant is more religious than many religious blogs.

EID GIFT - TO CITIZENS OF KUWAIT

2009-09-19T04:09:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Last year the Emir of Kuwait granted a KD 200.000 for all citizens.

There was much hue and cry about the utility of the gift. It was in probability utilized by about 90% of Kuwaitis to repay their credit card and other debts.

As they could not use it they felt that the gift was a stupid exercise. They forgot that in one shot the Emir managed to reduce about KD 90 million in loans and dues.

Well, the Emir learnt his lesson and this time there is no cash gift.

So what is the gift?

The gift is in the form of a new Bank. This Bank will be formed with a capital of KD 100 million. KIA, the investment wing of the Bank will invest 25% and the rest will be distributed amongst the citizens. So we will approximately KD 75 Million in the hand of the 1.1. million population (or slightly less if we minus the non adult citizens).

This translates into 750 shares each. At an expected price of say 350 fils each share, the gift translated into money is KD 265.000.

The Emir has killed two birds with one stone.

Infusion of KD 100 million into the economy and gift to the citizens both through this wonderful action of creating WARBA BANK, the first Islamic Bank where the entire population of a country will be share-holders.

To give you an idea of how the Government takes care of the citizens here are a few perks the citizens are entitled to:

Every child - KD 80/- till eternity.

Every marriage - KD 2000/- gift and KD 2000/- payable in installments of KD 10-20 every month.

If working in the private sector - KD 300/- maintenance allowance. KD 400/-, if married.

KD 70,000/- loan (interest free) for house or house (no one takes the house as they already live in palaces) . KD 100/- installment every month. - Till you take the loan or house KD 150/- housing allowance.

US$ 1,500 per month allowance if studying abroad.

Education free in Government schools.

Medical free.

Does anybody need to work after this?

No electricity, phone bills are paid and petrol is cheaper than water.

It is not surprising that the rest of the GCC citizens try to get Kuwaiti citizenship.

It is understood that UAE guys are even more blessed.

Does anyone have an example of better living conditions?

Best regards,

Manoj

Questions & Answers

2009-09-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks friends, for your sincere efforts to find the answers. No, I don't have them. They didn't either, I think so. They means Art of Living, whose 6 days basic course is where I got these questions from.

Instead I had a couple of questions for them which I didnot get to ask them. They are :

1. Why are the gals of Art of Living always good looking and the guys effeminate ? and

2. Why there are only two Sris before the name of H.H. Sri Sri Ravishanker ?

Last Set of Questions

2009-09-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

1. What are you ?

2. Where are you ?

3. Who are you ?

Now shall we have some answers.

Next 2 Questions

2009-09-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

1. What are the responsibilities you would like to take ?

2. What are the responsibilities you wouldn't like to take upon yourself ?

Day 2 Questions

2009-09-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

1. What do you need to stay happy in life ?

2. When will you be happy ?

I thought these were relatively easier questions to answer. What do you say ?

Questions

2009-09-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me a set of questions over a period of some days. I'm still searching for the answers. Who knows, someone of you may have the answers. Please help me.

Questions (only two) of the first day :

1. What do you want from your life ?

2. What things make you restless, unhappy ?

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

2009-09-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

Hello,

When in school I had to read a few short stories by this great author. But then reading Hindi was a pain in the 'you know where' and any reading beyond the course books was non existent.

As I was never considered a reading/writing sort of person by my friends I also did not have friends who could reintroduce Hindi Literature into my reading . (My passion for sports & games being so on my sleeve, I have always been considered a person more at ease at pursuit of hobbies in the physical rather than mental.)

Now thanks to the publication of my short story in 'The Shrinking Woman & Other Stories' my old friends who never discussed books have come out of the closet to disclose their liking for reading and have shared their favorites with me.

My friend Supriya Ritwik, reintroduced me to Munshi Premchand.

In one of our several weekend get togethers, we sat together while we discussed the stories of Munshiji. Till then I had vague memories of 'Idgah', 'Poos Ki Raat', 'Bade Bhai Saheb', 'Bade Ghar Ki Beti' and his classics 'Godaan' and 'Nirmala' (more so because of the movies). Due to these exposures I always rated him as a writer who wrote about the darker and melancholy side of life. Mr. Ritwik told me the story of 'Basi Pawroti'. Excellent plot and imagination to a fun tale of misconceived notions.

This discussion has now brought me back into Munshiji's fold and I am in the process of devouring his short stories.

The books by Munshiji are available very cheap in India (Mr. Ritwik told me so) and most of his stories have also found their way on to the internet.

Does anybody have any special list of Munshiji stories. I would love to set a priority in the reading list.

Best regards,
Manoj

WHAT SHOULD I READ NEXT

2009-09-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I went through two self help books - 'The powers of the Subconscious Mind' and 'Secret'. Both were books that basically subscibe to the view that with a positive outlook we can achieve all our wishes. The books give a lot of examples of success achieved through this process.

Without having gone through the theoritical part I had experimented with positive thinking at several stages in my life with good results. I therefore found a lot of good things to take from the books and I am now trying to implement it with knowledge.

I have two new books vying for attention. 'The Terrorist' by John Updike and 'Love in the time of Cholera' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I am wondering which book will be more suitable to my current mood.

Needless to add, whichever book I take up the summary and review will be posted in the blog for you to read and comment on.

Happy reading,
Manoj

RAMADAN FOR A NON MUSLIM IN KUWAIT

2009-08-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hello,

A few of my friends have been wondering how it is like to be a non - muslim in Kuwait during the holy month of Ramadan. Well frankly it has made no difference to me except for a few adjustments that we need to make in our daily routine.

The Ministry of Interior makes sure that the law which was formulated in 1968 is given wide publicity leading to Ramadan. The rule according to law No. 44 of 1968 says that anybody caught eating, drinking or smoking in public during the daytime in Ramadan, along with those who compelled or abetted them to do so, would be given a fine of up to KD 100 and/or a prison sentence of one month.
I have not heard of anyone personally known to me being caught but it is understood that the imprisonment ends on the last day of Ramadan. This law also gives the Ministry the powers to ask certain establishments to close during the fasting hours and Restaurants are not open during the day hours till the break of fast at sunset.
It depends on where you work and it is necessary that you respect the local customs as any unwanted exuberance is considered an insult to the tradition of fasting that is followed by most Kuwaitis.
In some organisations, the pantry is kept open for non - muslim expatriates to take their food, water, etc in seclusion. In most organisations the Kuwaiti colleagues do try to make it clear that they do not object to your taking food and water during office hours if it done in the pantry.
In an organisation I know of non - muslims had not paid heed to the sentiments of the fasting muslims and had gathered at the pantry, as if for a picnic. The action taken was that from the next day the pantry was closed.
I have not witnessed it but it is understood that if a muslim complains about your having taken food or water in public view, during the fasting hours, you can attract the penalty we have discussed above.
School children are allowed to bring their lunch and have it in their classrooms instead of the usual places like the playground or the auditorium. Sick and invalid people are exempted. I understand that even sportsmen are exempted but we do not take the risk and on Fridays when we play cricket we make sure that when we drink water we are not sighted by any muslim.

The arrangement of our water drinking place during our game is illustrated in the figure alongside. This is circulated to all players before Ramadan.

Ramadan is a holy month and the best time to ask for a raise. I am not sure anyone has actually done it or not. Kuwaitis give away 2.5% of their income as Zakat and try to be the most benevolent during the holy month.

Ramadan is the best time to relax. Office hours begin at 9.30 AM, two hours after the usual start and end at 2.30 PM, half an hour before the usual end. If your Boss is a Kuwaiti, then it is the best time of the year. No pressure & no irritation.

Muslims like to share during Ramadan and there are meals called the 'Ghabka' held at almost all big hotels in the evenings. Large AC tents are put up and a variety of food is spread for dinner. Non- muslims are invited and there is no restriction on the number of friends you take along with you. I am invited to one tomorrow.

The bad things about Ramadan is that traffic is really bad. Not as bad as in Delhi though, but bad by Kuwait standards. The reason is that people have not slept well and need to rush home to get sleep. Therefore some rash driving and some cat napping on the wheel. Ramadan sees a large number of accidents.

All in all it is month of rejoicing, meeting friends, having a lot of time for yourself for a non - muslim in Kuwait.

Be careful while driving, drinking and do some dieting, that's all.

Best wishes,

Manoj

THE ALCHEMIST - PAUL COELHO

2009-08-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Paul Coelho

Hello,

After finishing 'Unaccustomed Earth' I started reading 'The power of your Subconscious Mind' by Dr. Joseph Murphy.

This is a wonderful book but it gets tedious as the writer tries to drill in the message. While reading the book and after getting through the top seven chapters I was strongly reminded of 'The Alchemist' by Paul Coelho.

I took out the book once again and tried to go through the underlined messages. These were the best part of the book according to me, when I first read it and now when I was going through them again I realized how easily he had made us understand the power of the subconscious mind through a simple story of Santiago and his search for the treasure.

I tried to note down the top ten messages from the book. Of course these are my choices for the top ten and you may have your own selection. The messages are scattered around like gems in a treasure trove and I now strongly believe that if one goes through their own top ten from 'The Achemist' nothing in the world can stop them from achieving their goals.

THE TOP TEN:

Whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth. And when you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

This people who saw "Om Shanti Om' will remember as Shah Rukh Khan's appealing dialogue "Kisi cheez ko agar puri dil se chaho, toh saari kayanat use tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai."

We have to take advantage when luck is on our side, and do as much to help it as it's doing to help us.

No matter what he does, every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world. And normally he doesn't know it.

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

“Every search begins with beginner’s luck. And every search ends with the victor’s being severely tested.”

There is only one way to learn. It's through action.

"You came so that you could learn about your dreams," said the old woman. "And dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret what he has said. But if he speaks in the language of the soul, it is only you who can understand."

Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.

"But, above all, I learned that these things are all so simple that they could be written on the surface of an emerald."

and finally my current favorite

The world's greatest lie: At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate.

If you have read 'The Alchemist' long time ago I would persuade you to go through it again.

Your dreams are yours to achieve and although the journey may be tough, there will be sacrifices to make, choices to be made, distractions to be ignored, price to be paid, but at the end, if you remain faithful to your dream, victory will always be your charming bride.

"Maktub" - it's written.

Read 'The Alchemist' and you will have lessons on life. The book originally sold only 900 prints and the publisher refused to reprint. Later it sold 65 million copies.

Keep it by your bedside and read it whenever this happens "At a certain point in our lives we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate." and you will know how to fight the greatest lie on earth.

Best regards,

Manoj

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

2009-08-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Finished reading "Unaccustomed Earth," a collection of short stories, by Jhumpa Lahiri. The lives of expatriate Bengalis and their first-generation American-born children are once again the theme of the stories as were her earlier highly successful, Pulitzer Prize- winning story collection "Interpreter of Maladies" and her novel "The Namesake, which then was also made into a very successful film.

In "Unaccustomed Earth" we see the second generation Bengali kids struggle with their identities as their elders start adopting the American way of life. The stories try to show to us a struggle to adapt by individuals and the conflict between the desire to remain close to the roots and the need to adapt to the American way of life.

In the opening story we have a daughter trying to get over the loss of her mother, trying to maintain the filial relationship with her father as he struggles to let her know that he has moved beyond the past. The inability of the daughter to be Indian and the struggle of the father to acknowledge his Americanism is well depicted.

Bringing them both under one roof, Jhumpa creates a tension that gets exciting to finally end in the daughter voicing her needs and then getting to know about her father's secret by accident.

Told in simple sentences, you identify with the characters' innermost feelings. Ruma's vulnerability and her father's rising panic is transformed into a compelling emotional landscape.
I really liked the way the father looks at his marriage "the entire enterprise of having a family, of putting children on this earth, as gratifying as it sometimes felt, was flawed from the start." But this is of course hindsight and as he thinks somewhere else "He did not want to be part of another family, part of the mess, the feuds, the demands, the energy of it."

The second story "Hell Heaven" once again is a struggle between the 'have done' and 'could not do' the transition kind of American Bengalis. Pranab Chakraborty playing with the emotions of a simple housewife and then moving on to greener American pastures to finally in a very American manner cheat on his wife, leaving Aparna to long secretly for a moment of bliss, but not being able to gather the courage to take things in her hand. She is finally able to get over her burden when she narrates the story, to her daughter, who was then nursing a broken heart herself, of how she had almost ended her life after Pranab had decided to get married .

In "The choice of Accommodation" we have another Bengali, Amit, struggle to honour his marriage vows as he is haunted by the love of his childhood and youth. He is finally being able to do justice to his marriage after wedding of his affection takes place at the school where it all started. By bringing him back to the school dorm, Jhumpa gives his life a new beginning which is as open and uninhibited as the love making of Amit and Megan at the end of the story.

"Only Goodness" talks about the relationship between a brother and sister and ends up in a near disaster as the brother almost kills the child of his sister when he finds himself failing to kill his obsession for alcohol. The struggle of the brother is wonderfully depicted as he goes back to the source, her sister, her fight with her guilt, about having introduced him to it.

The stories about Sangeeta in "Nobody's business" and the next set of three stories about Hema and Kaushik are just fine. In fact the simplicity is missing as the situations turn contrived at the end.

All in all the stories are all well told but the length is something I have complains about. It has something of an Alice Munroe or John Updike kind of fixation for description of the landscape that at time turns boring. This is mostly in the last three stories as Jhumpa tries to convey meaning to the lonliness and solitude by taking the protagonist through several towns and events.

Love,

Manoj

John Updike - Rabbit Run

2009-08-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

Hello,

John Updike is some kind of a legend and Rabbit, Run is the first story I have read. in fact it is his first novel as well.

It is story based in Brewer, Pennysylvania, USA.

It is a story unwinding itself in 1959.

It is a story of Harry Rabbit Angstrom, who has had his good days as a a legendary high school basketball star. He realizes suddenly, after a chance basketball outing with kids that he is tied down in a suburban marriage to a woman who is alcoholic and has an achingly prosaic career as a kitchen gadget salesman.

He gets out of his house to get back the car and his kid and ends up abandoning his pregant wife to drive off ambiguously toward Florida. After reaching West Virginia, he changes his mind and decides to return to Brewer, Pennsylvania.

He struggles with his thoughts and ends up falling into the lap of a prostitute through his old coach who himself is a good for nothing drunkard by then.

It turns out that Rabbit has been to war and has come back to see his childhood sweetheart married to someone else. These are just mentioned in the passing.

He wants no responsibility but is also a scared cat trying to be as close to an anchor as possible. He gets bored easily and after impregnating the prostitute gets back to his wife when she gives birth to their daughter.

The fact that his misdemenour is forgiven so easily emboldens him and he also eyes the wife of the priest who has tried to bring him back to his family. He vacillates between the whore and the wife as each outdoes the other in being nice to him for all his cruelty and finally runs again.

Rabbit Angstrom, despite his grotesque immaturity and narcissism, is a very real character and you tend to hate, like and laugh at him as he goes through his idiotic inexplicable ego trips and keeps getting away with it as people seem to be too willing to forgive.

The prose is sometimes laborious as we get to know the roads and surroundings of the area although they do not seem to impact the story in any particular way. John Updike also uses an endless streams of adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and relative clauses and the exposition becomes compounded and bombastic when describing a small building, a backyard or a skyline. Such pages we turn to flip over quickly.

It was a revolutionary book at that time as the use of words like sex, penis, etc was taboo. It is reflected very well through Rabbit who wants oral sex with Ruth, the whore he stays with when he runs from his wife, but is not able to put it into words.

John Updike clearly brings to life the life of the 50's and 60's where frustration is growing, the white man is dominating relationships and women are turning into doormats as personal gratification becomes more important than family life and values.

It would have been a much much bettter book if the boring landscape descriptions had been edited.

Happy reading,

Manoj

TRIBUTE TO LEELA NAIDU - ANURADHA

2009-07-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

TRIBUTE TO MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI - JAIPUR'S PRIDE

2009-07-30T10:11:00.001-07:00

Kuwait - Life of an indian Expatriate

2009-07-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Life in Kuwait comes to life on Fridays and Saturdays.
In fact I can say Thursday evening as all arrangement to start

Cricket on Friday at Sharq United
early next morning 5.45AM for the game of cricket at Sharq United has to be completed. We are almost 30 players at the club and on an average end up having two full teams of 11,12 or 13 players.
We play 30 over matches and the plan involves giving batting and bowling to all players.
During summer we have reduced the number of overs to 24.
The game starts at 6AM and ends at 10-10.15 AM. We generally have cliff hangers as the teams are formed to be evenly balanced.
The Batting, Scoring and Cheering team

This is the time of the week I look forward to. I am amongst the oldest (age wise) member and it is fun to feel young for the four hours of the week. I am generally so tired when back from the game that I have to take a nap to get back the energy to get into other activities.

The other major activity on Fridays and Saturdays (sometimes on Thursday evenings) is getting together.

Bachelors party at residence of Kamlesh- Saturday

The get togethers are generally family events but during the summers when families are in India the men get together for forced bachelor parties. Bawdy jokes and serious discussions generally on the Indian political scene, the movies, the TV shows, the stock market are the staple food at such get togethers.

The passageway in front of the Sultan Centre Marina

The Kuwait Towers at Night.

There are several other activities you can indulge in when in Kuwait. Like visiting the beach, the marina, the shopping complexes, the restaurants, sights like the kuwait tower, etc.

I hope to cover these in my coming posts.

Regards,
Manoj

The Manchester Fiction Prize 2009

2009-07-26T01:58:00.000-07:00

Hello,

The Manchester Fiction Prize 2009 which has a First prize: £10,000 and Deadline for entries: 7th August 2009 is on my target,
The details of the competition that has an entry fee of £15 is as under:

The Manchester Fiction Prize is a new literary competition celebrating excellence in creative writing. The Manchester Fiction Prize is open internationally and will award a cash prize of £10,000* to the writer of the best short story submitted. The competition is open to entrants aged 16 or over; there is no upper age limit.

A bursary for study at MMU will also be awarded to an entrant aged 18-25 as part of the Jeffrey Wainwright Manchester Young Writer of the Year Award*. Eligible entrants are asked to indicate on the entry form if they would like to be considered for the Manchester Young Writer of the Year Award in addition to the main prize.

All entrants are asked to submit a complete short story of up to 5,000 words in length. The story can be on any subject, and written in any style, but must be new work, not published or submitted for consideration elsewhere.

The competition will be judged by distinguished novelists and short story writers Sarah Hall, M. John Harrison and Nicholas Royle.

The Manchester Fiction Prize celebrates the substantial cultural and literary achievements of Manchester, building on the work of MMU’s Writing School and enhancing the city's reputation as one of Europe's most adventurous and creative spaces.

The prizes will be awarded at a gala ceremony, held as part of the 2009 Manchester Literature Festival.

To enter the competition, click "online entry" in the column on the left of your screen. If you would like a printed entry pack for postal submission, or if you have any queries, please contact:
James Draper Project Manager: Writing School Department of English Manchester Metropolitan UniversityTelephone: +44 (0) 161 247 1787 E-mail: j.draper@mmu.ac.uk

The prize is good and the competition is anonymous so that everybody has a fair chance of winning.
May the best person win.

Best wishes to all participants,

Manoj

THE SHRINKING WOMAN AND OTHER STORIES

2009-07-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Ever since the publication of my short story 'Victim of the Stock Market' in the wonderful book called 'The Shrinking Woman and other stories' I have been trying to convince myself that it is nothing out of ordinary.

But every now and then an event comes up to show that I am wrong and I have to say that it makes me really proud of my achievement.

This was my first jab at publication of short stories written by me and I have to thank Annie Mathews and Meenakshi, the wonderful editors of the book and Unisun Publication for having considered my story to be good enough to share space with such wonderfully gifted authors.

There are several award winning writers in the 36 that appear in my book and most recently Jahnavi Barua made it to the longlist of the Frank O Connor Award. The euphoria of being associated with this talented writer had hardly died down when Maraim Karim and K Srilata have made it to the Man Asian Award.

It would be wrong to name just a few others who share 'The Shrinking Woman and Other Stories' with me as I now believe that all of them are exceptionally talented and winners. There is no need for me to be reminded of their talent by listing their awards.

I feel blessed and honoured.

When I started searching for an avenue for publication of my short stories my only aim was to get someone to publish one of my short stories anywhere in their book.
I was over the moon when Meenakshi wrote to me that my story would be published in the book. It was like a life ambition achieved but my fellow writers have made me greedy.

It now much more that I dream of.

While it is easy to bask in the company of the illustrious names who share the index with me in the book I need to mention important names that do not appear in the index.

Sanjoy, my friend, who has been a force that has propelled me forward and Radhika, my wife and friend, who has kept me grounded.

Ruchira and Mayank, my daughter and son have been willing guinea pigs in the laboratory I now operate and when they complain of wax in their ears I know it is time to stop the experiments.

They are the proof readers, editors, sounding boards and magnanimous listeners. Thank you very much.

I could not have done anything without them.

Best regards,
Manoj

TRIP TO SINGAPORE

2009-07-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

Scenes at the Singapore River.
Mayank under the twin bridge at Esplande
Family with the Merlion
The tree at the bridge roots extended as they seek the water
A beautiful gateway on the river

Hello,

We do not have issue with food on the trip as most of times the arrangement is at restaurants that are serving typically Indian food.

The next day starts with the city tour and we first go to the Singapore river waterfront. The Merlion is the symbol Singapore has been associated with. We have two Merlion statues on the waterfront. KR, our local guide in Singapore say that they are the Baby Merlion and the Mother Merlion. Before we get any ideas about broken families he adds that Daddy Merlion looks over the city from his post at Sentosa Island. Interesting fact about the Merlion is that the skin is made from porcelain plates and eyes from small red teacups.

The river front has a wonderful bridge old bridge over it with gates in the form of arches that gives it a very British look. The tree at the edge of the bridge makes a pretty picture as roots fall into the river as if reaching out for life.

There is also a modern bridge that allows fast moving traffic to speed over the quay and allow the relaxed feel to remain untouched.

Besides the merlion, the quay allows you to look towards the city and the dome of the theatre which is shaped like the head of a microphone.

The Singapore eye which rises 65metres and gives you a bird's eye view of the city is also visible.

There are boats available for a cruise down the river and a better view of the merlion. Unfortunately, we do not have time for this cruise.

TO be continued....

Trip to Singapore

2009-07-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

Sea dividing Malaysia & Singapore

Hotel Grand Central from a nearby flyover

The family on the train taking us on the Night Safari Trip.

Hello,

11 June and we were at the Grand Central Hotel in Singapore. As usual we were sent into the rooms and asked to assemble for dinner after a short rest.

Although the journey had been comfortable we needed to stretch our legs a bit and therefore we rested in the rooms having tea and coffee. Once again drinking water was an issue and therefore the Seven Eleven store near by was visited and a couple of bottles of water purchased.

The Grand Central is located on Orchard road which houses some of the important shopping malls of Singapore.

We start for the Night Safari - It is one of the most famous to do things when in Singapore. This place is located near the checkpost from where we had entered into Singapore so we take a return journey of about 45 minutes.

The Night Safari is popular and the crowd was unbelievable. We were first herded into the 'Creatures of the night show'. This show is hosted by an Indian lady who is too good. Her sense of humor and timing is amazing and she had the crowd literally eating out of her hand. The show has various animals making an appearance on stage (this is built like an amphitheater which has the stage in a hollow surrounded by seating on about three sides). We have the wolf, the Hyena and other animals pose for us and the smaller animals like the sloth play tricks. somewhere in between this lady gets into the seating space of the audience and pulls out a ten feet long python from under one of the seats.

We then rush out to get seats on the train that takes us around the zoo. The zoo is divided into continents. Asia is prominent and many animals are from India. The most astonishing sight is that of a group of rats that look like dwarfed pigs. They are huge and ugly.

Best wishes,
Manoj

To be continued...

Trip to Singapore - From Malaysia

2009-07-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

Tamil Dhaba in Malaysia - Serve food on Banana leaf.
The place is just minutes away from the Singapore immigration checkpost.

Hello,

After completing the A Famosa resort visit at Malaka in Malaysia we took a bus ride to Singapore. On the way (a longish journey of over 3 hours) we stopped at a Tamil restaurant. Our dear friend Mr. Homi had informed us that we would be stopping over at a authentic Malaysian restaurant for our lunch and we will be served food on banana leaf. All of us were a little apprehensive as we did not have a very good experience with Malaysian food at the A Famosa resort and therefore it was a pleasnt surprise when we landed at a dhaba type croded restaurant serving typical Tamil food. Radhika was pleased and had her best meal of the tour. The food was really very tasty as it was typically Indian. I believe that till before this meal we were having food cooked in palm oil and maybe it was the first time we had food in a medium we were familiar to (I am not sure of this though).

The lady managing the show at the restaurant was speaking very good tamil (according to Radhika it was different from the tamil being spoken by the tamil Malaysians- she talked to her and it transpired that this still had links to chennai).

This restaurant is located almost at the border and soon we were at the checkpost. The immigration and checking was extremely efficient. One lady had a bad experience though: She was said that she has to do what told if she wants to enter the country of the woman who was handling the immigration counter.

The other Cox &Kings group was also there at the same time and in contrast with our group they were having a lot of tiffs amongst themselves and with their Tour Manager. Dr. Singh of our group had travelled from A Famosa till the check post in their bus and they were happy when they could be accommodated again in our bus after the checkpost.

The Singhs were simple people and their kids were well behaved.

The cleanliness is noticeable. Although Malaysia is equally green and efforts are made to keep it clean, the cleanliness of Singapore is sparkling.

I need to add though that this cleanliness also means that you do not even see a bird, leave aside an animal in the streets of Singapore.

The Singapore Hotel is the Grand Central. We meet KR our local guide for Singapore.

Best wishes,
Manoj

To be continued...

Trip To Malaysia - A Famosa Resort

2009-07-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

A Famosa is a resort located in the historical city of Melaka - A UNESCO Heritage.

But I believe the British callously destroyed the entire fort built by the Portuguese in 1511. Only the gate “Porta de Santiago” is left. Melaka was a trading post of the Potuguese connecting the other ports of Goa and Macao. Sir Stamford Raffles, the creator of modern Singapore is credited with saving of the Porta de Santiago.

But did we visit the historical city of Melaka. No we did not. The modern tourist has little time to spare for historical ruins and small hutments and areattracted only to the bright lights and entertainment.

A Famosa resort has a wonderful golf course and club house. The club house was where we disembarked from the bus that brought us to the place from KL. A did a bit of putting at the greens. Got 20 balls for about Ringet 2/= only. They had a driving range as well. Radhika said I was showing off.

We had a very early lunch as the rooms were to be allotted to us only after 3 PM, our tour operators had thoughtfully advanced the lunch timings so we had lunch just about three hours after breakfast.

We were then bundled into the banana bus (the transport system at the resort called so because of its yellow color and shape) and taken to the water park. The water park has just a few slides and a wave pool. Nothing great.

We came back to the resort and got into our rooms. The rooms are good. They are not small and cramped as in Genting and also bigger- much bigger than what we had in KL. However th furniture doesnot appear to have been dusted for some time.

We take an early dinner as well but this is Ok as the break between lunch and dinner and the trip to the water park has us hungry. The late night entertainment see us get into a carnival mood with Malasian Red Indians, Malaysian Cowboys and Malayasian birds and animals putting up a show that was entertaining as it was well conducted.

The carnival site also has a four D theatre and we watch a movie in it. This was a good experience. We had water being sprayed, chair getting rocked and cool winds hitting our face as we explore a haunted office building.

Mayank and I then spend some time at the bowling alley. We have a couple of strikes and spares and in general a good father and son bonding.

By now the other members in the tour are quite familiar and friendly. We have two doctor families from Patna. Both the couples are doctors and are quite friendly. We have the Jains and the Tanwars who have links with Rajasthan and we have another couple from Mumbai - the gentleman is from HDFC. With common issues we are now talking to each other and as a result there is a lot of friendly banter and leg pulling especially of Mr. Homi.

The A Famosa trip ends with breakfast next morning and as we wait for the bus to arrive we take rides on a three rider cycle.

Needless to add, the vegetarian stuff at A Famosa is pedestrian.

Best wishes,

Manoj

To be continued...

Trip To Malaysia - Shopping

2009-07-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Sungai Wang Plaza
In the afternoon and later in the evening.

Hello,

Coming back to the trip to Malaysia I start where we left off in our last post.
After the lunch at Sagar we were given the option of either going back to the hotel for rest or take a trip for the shopping malls of Kuala Lampur.

Except for a few elderly couples the rest of us opted for a visit to the shopping malls. We had heard a lot of the Malaysia shopping festivals and were hoping to get some good buys.

Our guide Mr. Homi gave us the idea that the things to buy in Malaysia should mainly include ladies handbags, chinese silk dresses or dress material and shoes. He made it clear tough that shopping would not be a major attraction as the electronics was available at much cheaper prices in India.

So we were dropped at the Bukit bintang and the Sugai Wang Plaza which was considered the middle class shopping malls of Kuala Lampur.

The mall is huge with a large number of outlets. In contrast to the Suria KLCC shopping mall which is located in the Petronas Towers, the Bukit Bintang and the Sungai Wang Plaza does not have big name shops. Selling local and international goods the shops are small in size, more or less in the style we see in India. Fakes of branded items are available. They say it is better than fakes made in China.

There are several shops selling electronic goods like cameras,mobile phones, laptops and other items but we did not get to see anything that could attract our attention. At one shop when I asked for the calculator to work out the price of a particular Nokia mobile in rupees the shopkeeper helpfully suggested to refrain from doing the hard work as the prices in Malaysia would be higher. Once we had it from the horse's mouth we stopped looking at the electronics.

Mayank had by now started insisting on buying a pair of 'converse' shoes. So both Mayank and I started looking for shops selling thses shoes while Radhika and Ruchira went their own way looking for clothes in special chinese design and handbags.

When Mayank fixes his mind on something he makes sure that we reach the conclusion and therefore we did manage to find out the only shop in the plaza that was selling 'converse'. A kind of canvas shoes, I was made to understand that the shoes were in the design used by Basketball players in USA. I fond it strange as they are quite bulky. Anyway, no option. We did a quick calcualtion in rupee and found that it would be almost the same price we pay in Kuwait. Now that his shopping was done Mayank insisted on completion of his next agenda 'a burger at McDonalds'. As usual I obliged.

We were waiting for Radhika andRuchira at the exit and it transpired that they had already finished their tour, buying just one of the chinese dresses and a handbag. They said that the handbags were good but as both of them are shoppers who buy according to practical needs they restricted themselves to the two items. This too according to them they could have done without.

We had completed our shopping trip that included a cursory look into the malls located next to the plaza as well by 6.30 pm and it was now time for us to make our trip back to the hotel before starting for dinner.

We had the option of taking a taxi which wuld have dropped us directly in front of the hotel or take the metro rail where the station at the destination was some distance away from the hotel. Mr. Tanwar and his family had also finished their shopping at the same time so both families opted for a metro trip.

As expected the efficiency was impressive. The stations look clean and well kept, the trains run on time and the ticket vendors are efficient. Most of the stations are also associated with a particular brand and therefore we get in at say 'Toshiba' and get down at 'Sony'.

The walk down to the hotel from the station where we got down turned out to be longer than what we had thought and therefore the ladies were bundled into a taxi while Mr. Tanwar, his son Bhanu, Mayank and I walked it. We had to cross narrow alleys to reach the hotel and these alleys were as clean as the alleys we have in Mumbai Colaba. Nothing better.

The dinner at Aryan, another Indian eatery was OK.

We were now ready to move out of Kuala Lampur and proceed to Al Famosa Restort. This was to be a one day stop before we made our onwards journey to Singapore.

Malaysia is actually not a shoppers paradise as it is made out to be. Of course you can get some good quality fakes of ladies handbags and carry bags, but that is it. Bhatia and family purchased the Petronas Tower T shirts and they were wearing it at the dinner.

Best wishes,
Manoj

To be continued....

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR V

2009-07-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Site # V - What else but the beautiful Ramniwas Garden and Albert Hall. If you stay in Jaipur and have not seen the Albert Hall change color from morning to evening and into the night you have missed something. If you have not seen the pigeons flock at the Albert hall you have missed something.

When I first came to Jaipur in 1985, Ramniwas Bagh was not as crowded as it today. In fact the whole city of Jaipur was less crowded and walking around was so easy.

But I did not recognize the beauty of the Albert Hall then. It is only later when one started to appreciate the beauty of nature and the impact it creates on the creation of mankind did Albert Hall and Ramniwas Garden come to notice.

Albert Hall was built in the 1880's when King Edward the then Prince of Wales had come down to Jaipur. I sometimes find it funny that along with the foundation stone for the Albert Hall the other building that is associated with his visit to Jaipur is the Polo Victory Cinema, which was always associated with movies like 'Pyasi Jawani' and 'Waasna Ki Aag'. He must be turning in his grave or should I say maybe getting a 'hard on' in his grave.

Anyway getting back to where we started. Albert Hall is so beautiful from the outside that you can spend hours just covering it from all angles. The view when you enter the Ram Niwas Garden campus from the side of 'New Gate' leaves you awed as you get a glimpse of the arches and domes that dominate the structure. It is said that the design is a copy of the Victoria and Albert hall Museum in England.

The Museum has a large collection of the usual stuff but it is worth taking a look. There are some wonderful sculptures and carpet designs which catch the eye.

The Zoo and the aviary are small but it is interesting as the animals are closer to you and the kids really enjoy the trip.

Ravindra Manch keeps throwing up surprises every now and then and I have watched several interesting plays and dance recitals.

The lawns that surround Albert Hall are extremely inviting and there is hardly any place to sit during summer evenings when people come down in droves to enjoy the pleasant breeze. Just imagine the crowd that gathers after you link it with the 33 acres of land in which it is spread out.

On the left (From New Gate entry) we have the zoo and the Ravindra Manch and a pathway that leads to Sanganeri Gate on the right we have an aviary and a pathway that leads to Ajmeri gate and a small area earmarked for eateries. I know people who will travel long distances for the food stuff sold here.

The unimaginative city planners have created a parking stand within the Garden and several of the lawns on the left are untended for long.

Warnings:
Some times the smell of zoo gets overpowering and you may have to cut short your picnics.
Never walk down the path that leads to Ajmeri Gate. It is more often than not used as an open urinal and if you are unlucky you may witness human bunnies defecating as well.

Personal Experiences:
I got first hand experience of the helpful attitude of the people in Jaipur when once while driving through the garden my Maruti van had stalled. There was something wrong with the cooling system and the coolant had evaporated. We had people from the Scouts and Guide office located in the park helping us with water to fill up the coolant tank and one gentleman on a scooter gave me ride to the mechanic shop so that we could get him to check what was wrong.

People in Jaipur are generally helpful. If you ask for help they do so and in the case of my friend Sanjoy, you do not even have to ask. He will help irrespective of invitation.

Happy picnics,
Manoj

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR IV

2009-07-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hello,

The place IVth on my list is not exactly a place but an entire road stretch.

Site # 4 is the stretch of road from Paanch Batti to the new secretariat.
There are so many things on this road that one could virtually spend days and days on this road itself. That is if you are a leisurely traveler and not a rushed for time tourist.

Paanch Batti, is one of the landmarks of Jaipur. The four havelis on all four corners have almost similar design, although greed and commercial considerations have changed the face of Panch Batti. I have also contributed directly to the commercialization of Panch Batti by managing to convince the owners of the khandelwal House to allow UTI Bank to pur up a ATM. Great visibility and business for the Bank but poor aesthetics. But why should only I take the blame when Tholia House now has the gaudy lights of McDonalds attracting the attention away from the symetry of Panch Batti.
The Panch Batti as shown in this picture is after the designer lights were put up but before the tree on the side of Tholia House was cut down.
The tree was unique growing on one side of the most important intersection on MI Road and was cut down to allow smoother flow of traffic.
You need to start your journey from a little bit inside the MI Road, towards the Ajmeri Gate. Start with a thrist quenching Kulhar Lassi and a Samosa or Mirchi Vada opposite Niros. The taste is out of the world and you do not have the taste of Jaipur if you do not taste the stuff served here.

Once you have done that you walk down towards the Statue Circle on Bhangwandas Road and on the left see RajMandir. A Cinema Hall. Once, in 1985, this cinema had the biggest lobby and the pathway to the various classes were perfumed. It was one tourist attraction and the guide would point out the gaudy green, red and other coloured lights of the cinema from atop Nahargarh Fort. The First Cinema outing with Radhika in 1986 was at Rajmandir. It was the noon show of some english movie on a Sunday. I forget the name but I remember that we had walked out midway through it. Mayank's first movie was also in this movie hall in 1999 and he kept saying "Bada TV nahi Dekhna Hai". Till the 1990's Rajmandir dominated the skyline at Panch Batti. Now a number of shopping malls have come up adjascent and opposite to the Cineman Hall and they literally dwarf it. Sooner or later it may be replaced by a multiplex.

Further down on the same side we have schools that several Jaipurites have a strong association. The St Xavier's and St. Soldier schools fall on the left before we reach the statue circle. St. Xavier's was established in 1945 and has several famous alumni. One of them Hemant Kaul is well known to everyone from SBBJ and UTI (Axis) Bank.

Statue Circle is a beautiful patch of green and the start of a stretch of road towards the new secretariat where the temperature is lower by at least 2 degrees.
The Statue circle was a spot for evening walks, lovers rendezvous and evening snacking. Immediately after sunset every summer evening people from far off places in Jaipur would make a trip to Statue Circle and spend their entire evening there. Walking, Lazing around, gossiping and eating the chats, dosas, bhelpuri and other stuff that was dished out by the thadi walas who would appear magically every evening. The place was also the favorite haunt of the corrupt police as they searched for young love birds to scare them into shelling out a few bucks.
Statue Circle has the Statue of Sawai Jai Singh.
After I had taken Radhika to Jamwa Ramgarh on our first date and still did not want to part company we had spent time at statue circle. The grass was wet and I had taken out my handkerchief for Radhika to sit on. One of the rare chivalrous actions of my life. It was beyond 10 Pm and the thullas were already eyeing us as potential blackmail victims so we did not spend much time there.
Before this the memories associated with Statue Circle as some early morning walks from our Staff Training centre at Sarojini Marg.

A small detour to the left takes you to Birla Planetarium and Auditorium. A new addition it is built in the traditional style and gives a majestic feel to the circle.
Slightly ahead on Prithviraj Road is the entrance to the Central Park. This Park which has been developed in the last 10 years has slowly replace Statue circle and is now the fovored destination with walkers, joggers, picnic goers and lovers. A green oasis in the heart of the city it has a jogging track and plenty of space for a relaxed picnic and time with your loved ones.

Coming back on Bhagwandas road and moving towards the new Assembly building you have the Secretariat on the right and the golf club on the left. These are the two places I spend a lot of time during 2003-04. Getting Government business in the secretariat and playing golf at Rambagh Golf club. Tucked in between the golf club and the Birla Auditorium is the Ashok Club which serves fabulous meals in their green lawns. The drinks are cheap as well and my friend Julius Samson was kind enough to invite me a couple of times to his club.

The secretariat was supposed to be the residence for part of the army of the maharaja and also had stables for the horses. An imposing structure it form the backdrop of a tee shot we take at the Golf course which we hit towards the Moti Dungri (A small quaint looking castle of Maharani Gayatri Devi just above the Birla Mandir)
A walkway surrounds the golf and polo clubs that share the same entrance and the tempreture goes down another couple of degrees when you enter the club area.
Golf is one of the best way to relax and spend time with friends. It is a very good mental and physical exercise as well as it tests your endurance and intelligence. I was lucky to get the membership of this club and spend some wonderful time learning and playing golf.

Although further down Bhagawadas Road you have the SMS stadium, The Amar Jawan Jyoti (A new addition) and the new assembly I wold rather take a detour into Bhawani Singh Road towards the non existent Rambagh Circle and enter 'Rambagh Hotel' .

The Rambagh Hotel is one of the several heritage hotels that dot the state of Rajasthan. Built in 1835 for the queens favourite handmaiden Kesar Badaran, it was later refurbished as a royal guesthouse and hunting lodge. In 1925, Rambagh was converted into a palace, and became the residence of the Maharaja of Jaipur. In 1957, when it was first converted into a luxury hotel by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II and in 1972 that Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces took over the management.

The Rambagh Palace Hotel and particularly the Maharani and the Prince's Suite makes you feel like a real Maharaja. It is understood that Maharani Gayatri Devi continues to stay in a private portion called the lily pool just behind the Hotel.
Rambagh Hotel had been intimidating till a few probationers of the 1985 batch made a spur of the moment decision to get in and have atleast a cup of tea. This was in 1986 and the cup of tea cost Rs. 21/- for each person.
The verandah has beautiful lawns in front and a wonderful view of the Moti Dungri. The dining halls/ restaurants with the high ceilings and beautiful pictures kept attracting me to the hotel time and again and Radhika and I also celebrated one of two of our wedding anniversaries with a dinner at the restaurant. No big deal. The food is nothing special.
In 2002, I arranged for the UTI Bank meet at the Rambagh Hotel and had the opportunity to explore the entire hotel as our guests from the head office stayed there for a few days.
Radhika and I also witnessed a very special show of the 'Sound of Music' at small auditorium attached to the Hotel. During the show we shared snacks with Maharani Gayatri Devi, saw her nonchalantly handle her drinks and her cigarette as well. She was pretty old then but the operative word even then was pretty.
Rambagh hotel had launched a special bar in a train just alongside the entrance of the hotel which became a favorite haunt for me and my friends from the Rajasthan Dental college, Bagru for some time.

People who visit Jaipur should surely visit this road stretch and enjoy what Jaipur has to offer.

Happy tourism and living,
Manoj

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR III

2009-07-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Site # 3 - City Palace

Finally we come into the city. Jaipur became the capital of the Kachawas after they shifted from Amber in the 1700s and the city palace complex is part of the planned city of Jaipur.

Very few people know or have ignored this information but the plan of the pink city which is placed alongside is as important as the ruins of Mohenjodaro as it gives us an idea about the way our ancestors planned our cities. The plan of the Pink City as it is known is also called the nine square plan and if you love Jaipur you will surely go up to Nahargarh fort and see for yourself how well the squares are etched out.

The city palace as you will see occupies a major portion of the plan (two of the nine sqaures and one seventh of the total area) and is well protected from all sides with the exit route towards the hills clear of any inhabitation.

With this kind of planning it is no surprise that Maharaja Jai Singh could imagine and help in creation of this marvel.

Most tourists enter the City Palace from the Jaleb Chowk entrance but i believe that the main gate of the city palace is from the side of the Tripolia Gate. When you enter the gate you immediately come to the Mubarak Mahal. Although Mubarak Mahal is a latter addition credited to Madho Singh, this appears to be the main entrace as the Rajendra Gate opens to the Dewan-e-Khas. In comparision the gate from the Jaleb Chowk side connects to the main courtyard and the Dewan-e-Khas through a narrow entrance.
Anyway this is besides the point and most probably the tourists are lead into the Palace through the other gate for the convenience of the bus operators.

The Mubarak Mahal and the Rajendra gate are excellent appetizers to the main course that awaits you inside. Do not miss a picture of the Rajendra Mahal. It comes out really good and also a must is a picture with the marble Elephants that stand on Rajendra Gate.

Inside we get into a wonderfully huge courtyard with the Palace complex looming over it and the Deewan-e-Khas standing out as a solitary lotus in the midst of a pond.
Most of the Palace continues to be the private residence of the Maharaja and is out of bounds but you can get a glimpse of what can be inside by looking at the beautifully carved doors, the memorable pictures adorning the walls and the royal looking passages and verandahs. Do not forget to take a look at the largest Silver Urns in the deewan-e-khas. The local guides will have wonderful stories to tell about the Urns. One story that I know of is that there were actually three urns and one of them had to thrown into the sea when the ship was hit by bad weather on it's journey to England.

Why is it Special for me
Site # 3 has special memories once again dating back to 1985. SBBJ had loaned the royal family a small sum for the Rambagh Hotel project and in order to show their gratitude the royal family had allowed access to SBBJ officials to some parts of the royal palace which was generally out of bounds for the genral public. I am sure SBBJ abused this invitation and as part of this abuse we visited the part of the palace which faces the hills of Nahargarh and the Govinddevji Temple and had tea sitting in the verandah of the Palace.

Then in 2002 when I was the Assistant Vice President of UTI Bank, I used my connections to have the North Zone Branchheads meet at the City Palace Restaurant run by the royal family. The Palace restaurant was specially opened for us during the night and and we also had a conducted tour of the Palace. (Most probably the parts that are not used by the Royal family). My Chairman, PJ Nayak was suitably impressed by the tour and arrangements which had us coming through the Rajendra Gate on car into the main courtyard to the sound of the bugle and nagaras. The welcome and the entertainment of that night when drinks flowed uniterrupted is a memorable event in my life.

Later in 2003 I had the good fortune of being a guest of Kuwar Narendra Singhji, the son in law of Maharaja Jaipur Brigadier Bhawani Singhji. We had tea together at his office in the Palace.

It is not all
But don't go away after you have done the tour of the city palace as the tour will be incomplete if you do not visit the Jantar Mantar and the Govinddevji Temple which lie on opposite sides of the Palace.

The Palace verandah which I talk about is visible from the Govinddevji Temple and gives you a different view of the palace. There is a pathway that leads from the palace to the temple and is used by the royals when they come to the temple.
The Govindevji Temple also includes a sometimes beautiful park (othertimes neglected) and the Talkatora.
This is an artificial pond created to trap the rain water and is another example of the ingenuity of the town planners of that time.
The Jantar mantar house the biggest accurate sun dial and some of the instrments are so accurate that it leaves you astonished. Do not give it a miss as most people do that thinking that there would be no further attraction to engage you after you have been awed by the Palace.

And if you still do have time do feed the piegons in the outer courtyard towards Jaleb Chowk.

The Royal had leased out part of the Palace Complex to the Government of Rajasthan for the Assembly and this is one part of the complex that has detoriarated faster than the rest. i believe they were getting peanuts as rent. Now that the assembly has shifted I do hope that better sense has prevailed and the property has been handed over to the Royal family.

Best Wishes,
Manoj

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR II

2009-07-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Site # 2 for me is Jamwa Ramgarh.

People who know Jaipur will wonder why Jamwa Ramgarh of all places. There are several wonderful places within Jaipur itself so why put this as # 2.

Well it is important that I clarify and my reason for putting Jamwa Ramgarh at # 2 is the joy I associate with the visit to the place.

The place has historical significance and is a tourist attraction for the beautiful Summer palace built by the Maharaja of Jaipur above the biggest man made lake in western India that till recently the only supply drinking water to Jaipur.

Jamwa Ramgarh was the capital of the Kachawas, the rulers of Jaipur before they shifted to Amber and then to Jaipur.

The old fort can still be seen on the hilltop when we move from Jaipur to Jamwa Ramgarh (28 Kms). We can still see some old milestones along the road which indicate that the road was an important route for travelers in the past.

I first visited Jamwa Ramgarh in 1985. The probationers of the 1985 batch of SBBJ made a day trip to the lake and I remember that almost all the guys immediately took to the water. The Asiad rowing competitions were held in this lake and in 1985 October it was overflowing.

A major picnic spot during and immediately after rains it is best to avoid the place on weekends when it is extremely crowded.

The trip I enjoyed the most was my first date with Radhika, my wife, in 1986.
We were in the nascent stages of our courtship and an unexpected holiday in the middle of the week gave us a chance to have our first date.

I persuaded Sanjoy to lend me his motorbike and waited, waited and waited for the day to start. When i got up that morning it was raining, it was not hard but a trip on a motorbike surely seemed impossible. Now this was an era when telephones were a rarity. Although Radhika had one in her hostel we did not have it at Sanjoy's place where we were camped. (Seshadri, Ashok Shukla and myself). So there was no way I could have canceled the date. Not that I wanted to.
It was one of the days I prayed real hard and by 10.am the rains had stopped. Although it was still cloudy I took the bike, filled it up with petrol on the way and reached the Ladies Hostel. The caretaker, who was an idiot, told me that Radhika had already left.
Perplexed and disappointed, I was on my way out of the Hostel when I saw her come out from the other wing. She had been chatting with her colleague in another room. She was dressed in her favorite salwar kameej and the morning had turned brighter for me.
The basic plan was to spend time together, but how, we had no idea. We started for Jamwa Ramgarh in a spur of the moment decision. I still do things this way.
As we entered the Jamwa Ramgarh road from the highway, it started raining again, but as large trees shadow the road for most of the journey, we had a natural umbrella over your head. The umbrella being leaky we did get wet.
As we came nearer to the lake we had the company of gurgling rain water flowing steadily towards the lake and we were splashed at least twice by cars making their way back to Jaipur. There was greenery all around and the weather turned beautiful when we stopped at the lake.

Jamwa Ramgarh lake and Lodge is a sight to behold immediately after rains. If the lake is full and the sun starts peeping out you have the wonderful reflection of the lodge in the lake and the rainbow somewhere in the sky. If you are lucky you can see the dancing peacocks.

A picture from that date adorns our bedroom walls.

The things you should not miss when in Jamwa Ramgarh:
1) A leisurely ride on the road. Do not hurry and take a detour to the dilapidated fort. Be careful of the pigs in the village.
2) On reaching the Lake take a break before you cross the dam. Eat the pakoras and have tea at the stalls that line the entrance to the lake.
3) Walk down towards the lodge. Have a tea break at the lodge as well. The open verandah with a view of the lake is a place you should sit.
4) Stay at the lodge. Not expensive but a feel of royalty. One of the rooms has a Gayatri Devi picture. You know why she was amongst the most beautiful women in the world. The lodge has been used as a location for several film shoots.
5) Walk down to the edge of the lake. Take a picture.
6) Spend time sitting near the lake. Soak in the beauty. The greenery all around has a calming effect.
7) Walk towards Raisar. The hills get closer and it is very pleasant. You are one with nature.
8) Do not go back to Jaipur. Visit an old castle some distance down the road. This bat infested castle has one of the best Bal Krishna temples inside. Visit the temple. Sit there and talk to the Pujaris.
9) if you are religiously inclined there is another Mata temple near by.
10) Take a detour and visit the stud farm in the vicinity. If you are lucky you will find polo players in practice and their girlfriends taking a sunbath. Some of the girls are polo players themselves. The horses are well groomed and the playing area is well maintained.
11) visit a rose cultivation. There are several of them on the road as well.

I am sure you will not regret a visit to the lake immediately after the monsoon and if you are accompanied by your loved ones. A perfect picnic spot, I never got bored of the place even after going there daily for one full year and more. I was posted as Branch Manager of the SBBJ branch in Jamwa Ramgarh during 1999-2000. My picture receiving the top branch award may still be found in the Branch Manager's cabin.

Best wishes,
Manoj

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR

2009-07-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Have been wondering for quite some time that I should be writing something about Jaipur on this blog. After all the name of the blog does necessitate that there be some connection with the city.

In order to start on this venture i have decided to write on the best places to visit in Jaipur. I will write on ten must visit places that are part of Jaipur and today i start with # 1 on the list: Nahargarh Fort.

Information on Nahargarh is plenty on the websites.
But the information that it was built in 1734 and is the first of the three forts built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh hardly means anything. The fact that it also means the fort of the tigers and a story that it is named after a prince to appease his ghost who had haunted the fort again means little.

So what is so great about Nahargarh.
To reach Nahargarh you have to exit the hustle bustle of Jaipur, cross Mansagar lake and take sudden left into the hills. This is an army road which leads up to the twin forts of Jaigarh and Nahargarh.
When you start the incline to Nahargarh you get a very wide view of the Mansagar lake. If the weather is good it is always advisable to stop your vehicle at one of the turns and soak in the beauty of the lake and the small palace within.
Some distance ahead is the turn towards Jaigarh Fort and then you reach a sharp incline that ends up on the outer gates of the fort. The incline and the entry are so close together that I have always felt that there should be some caution notice for the drivers coming out of the fort.
There are no tigers and although the guides will mention other wild animals I have never seen anything bigger than a mongoose. Yes you have many buffaloes, few monkeys and an odd Peacock.

When we reach the main part of the fort there is a sense that it is very small compared to the other forts. But the look is deceptive and once you get inside the main building the construction awes you. This fort has one of the best maintained interiors and the usual colorful rooms and corridors (common to all old forts in Rajasthan) attract your attention.
I will not waste my time here but get up on the terrace so that I get a bird's eye view of the fort. The beauty of the construction will fail to impress only the aesthetically challenged.
After having a view of the fort from the top I will walk on the ramparts (carefully as it may be damaged at few places) and feel like a rajput warrior doing the rounds. The ramparts are broad enough for a chariot to run on it.
Just adjacent is the 'Baori', dilapidated but gives you an idea of the scientific bend of mind of the inhabitants. This was the source of water for the fort.
One part of the ramparts (slightly damaged) provides you the best view of Jaipur. View it from the top and you see the symmetry of the old city. The beautiful city palace and the Talkatora with the temple complex. At night the RTDC restaurant (within the fort) or the cafe outside are excellent dinner locations.
Why is it site # 1 for me
I have fond memories of the place.
My first visit was in 1985. The last day in Jaipur after completing our induction course in SBBJ. The RTDC bus trip with a few other colleagues. This night trip in October gave me the first feel of the place.
I made the next visit in 1986. This time I was on the motorbike borrowed from Sanjoy and Radhika, my wife now was with me. After spending a princely sum on the date and dinner at the fort I had tried to save money by switching off the engine during the downhill journey. It was only when I switched off that I realized that the headlight also goes off when the engine is not working. Luckily we did not have any mishap. On the way down we met a gang of loafers high on beer. Another mishap avoided. Be careful of these guys who haunt the path at night. Harmless but you never know.
We have made several trips to the fort since then and I have never ever felt that it is not worth the effort.

One negative thought associated with Nahargarh is that it sheltered the British during the 1857 mutiny.

Any way one dark spot on the moon does not make it less pristine.

Best wishes,
Manoj

My Reply to a debate on Indian Literature

2009-07-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

I beg to disagree with her when she says that writers do not get the respect they deserve in India. No offense as this is my personal experience and opinion.

I buttress my statement with the facts below.

I grew up in an India where literature was always so rich and awe inspiring.
Reading English, Hindi and Bengali literature I was always happy to note that for every famous English author and poet we always had one home grown one.

If we read 'O Captain! My Captain!' by Walt Whitman and 'The charge of the Light Brigade' by Lord Alfred Tennyson we also read 'Jhansi Ki Rani' by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and 'Sharfaroshi Ki Tamanna Aaj hamare dil mein hai' by Ram Prasad Bismil.

If Somerset Maugham, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and Shakespeare influenced us so did Munshi Premchand, Sharatchandra and Bankim Chandra and Kalidas.
If we had a 'The Gift of Magi' and 'The last leaf' we also had the 'Kabuliwala' and 'Idgah'. If we had 'The tempest' and 'Othello' we also read 'Shakuntala' and 'Debodas'.

Kolkata always worshipped the literary giants - past and present. Robindra Sangeet and Nazrul geeti influenced the way of life in Bengal.

Poems by Robindranath Thakur are given the utmost respect by being chosen to be the national anthem of India and also Bangladesh. Not to forget our National song "Vande Mataram".

And before I forget I need to mention that we also had RK Laxman, Mulk Raj Anand and Ruskin Bond, if we wished to read Indian English authors.

The Rig Veda, the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Ramcharitmanas have been literature masterpieces that have been heard by generations of Indians.

Would it be wrong to suggest that we took lesson in life by reading and listening to dohas of Kabir, Surdas, Rahim and Nanak.

Gita continues to influence the way of life of the entire world.

On the other side, there has never been a book like 'Kamasutra' ever written.

Yes, it is true that we never had the wherewithal to discuss it over champagne and cherries, but we did discuss them as well, over cups of chai and bread-pakoras at the road side addas and while traveling on jam-packed local trains of Kolkata.

Yes, I am sure they get the respect they deserve in India.

The Sahitya Academy fellowship and the Jnanpith Award honor writers every year.

Please note that I have not talked about the various other contributors from the South and the West and the North-East.

Best regards,

Manoj

WIMBLEDON - THE FINAL HURDLE

2009-07-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Andy Roddick in finals!!!

The other Andy, Andy Murray was trying to become the first Brit since Bunny Austin in 1938 to advance to the Wimbledon men’s final. Heart break for the British once again.

But Roddick beware. You have Fedex on the other side. The champ is going for the record. 15 Grand slam championships. Bravo and best of luck.

By the way the old war horse is at it again - Leander Paes is in the finals of the mixed doubles.

Best wishes to him as well.

Wimbledon Dominance

2009-07-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Wimbledon has a tradition of creating heroes.
Like the dominance by the Williams sisters.
They have been in the finals every time since 2000 (except 2006) and between them have 7 winners and four runners up finishes. They have another three doubles titles as well.
Individually still far away from the 9+3 results of Martina Navratilova. We have not forgotten her seven doubles titles and four mixed doubles titles. She is the true owner of the centre court having ruled over it from 1985 to 2003 (almost twenty years in a sport where speed and strength means so much) when she won the mixed doubles with our own Leander Paes.
We had Pete Sampras winning seven titles and Roger Federer is now a few steps away from his sixth top finish.
Sisters being so dominant have only one other comparable period when in 1881 -89 William and Earnest Renshaw had 8+5 winners and runners up finishes and seven doubles titles as well.

It would be interesting if somebody worked on this angle. Why is there such an history of domination at Wimbledon.

Trip to Malaysia

2009-07-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Fruit Vendor in Malaysia

The trip to Malaysia posts were delayed as I struggled for the name of the hotel in KL. It was Citrus.
We reached the hotel at about 6 PM and Mr. Homi, our Indian guide from Cox and Kings was waiting for us. He had already taken the room keys and started giving instructions immediately. "At 7 PM I want all of you in the lobby as we will be going for dinner. The way he barked his orders I was reminded of the short time I spent at the hostel in St. Michael's, Patna. It sounded as "Be on time or no dinner".
We were ready at 7 PM and down in the lobby. The hotel was located in a side lane and the big bus could not get in so all of us had to walk down to the main road. Mr. Tanwar, did not give up his late coming habit and we had to wait for him. "from tomorrow no late coming and please leave the front seat vacant for me. Today I am making a general announcement but from tomorrow I may be direct", Homi threatened Mr. Jain, who had occupied the seat in the front of the bus.
The restaurant was good. The food was South Indian and Chaach was unlimited. It was good too. The buffet spread was OK and the vegetarian stuff was acceptable to our fellow tourists (my wife included).
So just after a drive through the city we were back at the hotel.
There was no drinking water bottles in the room and when we asked we were told you can use the tap water in the bathrooms. Not many of us relied on the assurance that the water from the toilet was good for drinking and therefore all of us were making a trip to the local seven eleven store for drinking water.
My wife wanted detergent soap to wash the undies but could not get it. Luckily we were carrying spare sets for the entire tour.
What we had forgotten was tea bags, milk powder and sugar. It was an issue as the supply in the hotel room was just enough for a single cup of tea each and we could have it either in the evening or in the morning.

Anyway, we were dead tired and had a good night sleep. Homi had told us that he would wake us up at 7AM for breakfast at 8AM and departure for the tour at 9AM. We set our alarm for 6AM knowing well that we would need more than one hour to be ready for breakfast.
As expected we were late and started breakfast only at 8.20AM. The hall was crowded as we had other groups from C&K and also SOTC staying in the same hotel.
The breakfast had variety. In fact we even had rice and chicken curry in the breakfast buffet. Fruits are tasty and juice, bread, eggs suffice for us.

The 9AM trip starts a little behind schedule but the Headmaster is happy. He says he had a cushion of 15 minutes. So no punishment for anyone. But Mr. Jain (he belongs to Lucknow but an original resident of Viraatnagar, Rajasthan) did not listen to what Homi had said the other day and was seated on the front seat again.
Minor problem that got sorted the next day.

We started our day tour with a visit to Petronas. This is actually the highlight of the tour. We make a stop for a photo shoot and we choose a professional to take a family pic. Cost us 15 RM but is one of the good family pitures we have. So it is worth it. I notice that our group does not want to spend anything extra. No one else opted for the professional photo shoot. After everybody had taken pictures, the group headed back into the bus and then we entered the Petronas Tower. The ground floor and basement and the mezzanine are reserved for shops of the best brands in the world. So you have the Gucci's, Gap, Versace and other brands that have the ability of creating a hole in your pocket. Anyway, such stores are everywhere now and not much of an attraction for us. Went around marveling at the architecture.
The towers were built by two sets of engineers. Japanese and Koreans and they raced each other to complete the project in time. The outer structure and the star shaped design is said to be Islamic. (Malaysia is Islamic- The girls near the tiniest of mini pants on the streets as well especially at Genting Highlands). It is unique in the sense that a country like Malaysia could even think of such a structure. After all it is just a 50 years old country. But the beauty of it is lost as it is in the heart of the city surrounded by only by concrete structures takes the charm away from it. The structure therefore remains commercial in mind rather than becoming a marvel like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal or the Eiffel Tower where the ambiance adds to the allure.

After the visit to the Petronas we made a trip to the kings palace. The king is a decorative position and shared in turns by the families who had ruled the various smaller states than combined to become Malaysia (Singapore had joined Malaysia but then opted out after being a part of the country for two years in the sixties. Nobody talks of this in Malaysia as the recreation of Singapore happened mainly because of the ethnic tensions created by the Malays)

However, they have done well for themselves even after the tensions in the sixties and the 90's. Should add here that the roads were wonderful. It is said that the Al Nino has brought excessive rains to Kuala Lampur. But the planning has been in advance and we saw a broad three lane road in the heart of the city which is actually a drain used to take away the water from the city roads.

And then we went to the chocolate factory. Another money making racket. This is the place where all foreign brands of chocolate are made with the help of palm oil instead of animal fat. 100% vegetarian they said. The chocolates were supposed to be cheap here but turned out that it was available at cheaper rates outside.

Malaysia was a country of tin prospectors and the house were all made of wood. Kuala Lampur means muddy river and mining was the main activity. Two clans fought over the control of trade and had burnt down the entire city in 1881. An entire heritage was wiped off. Malays are 50% of the population and are very particular about their dominance. The Chinese 23% and Indian 7% are the other communities.

After the visit to the Chocolate factory we visited a beautiful Chinese temple. As it is difficult to describe the temple I am pasting a picture alongside. There were these boat like structures at the top. It is understood that the Chinese like to have two things to be part of their construction. Water and bats (Not the cricket bats but the flying ones). Both are considered lucky. The interior of this temple was also equally colorful with dragons and warriors painted on the wall. The Chinese also use a lot of Jock Sticks for their prayers. The temple had a park which had all the animals representing the years of their calender and a pond full of turtles. Again for luck and prosperity. None of the Indian temples can match the colour and cleanliness of this temple. And although water is considered a required feature they do not throw water around as we do in India. This chinese Temple is next to China Town. The place where you get genuine duplicates and Tee shirts that can be worn by three generations. Grandfather when it is new, father after one wash and grandson after the next wash and before it gets torn.

We were taken to see the National Monument. The world war I and II soldiers, mainly British and Indians are honored here. Wonderfully clean and absolutely green. In fact the whole country is green. I always liked the India Gate memorial and the vast spread of open land around it. Really made the India Gate stand out. No such structure here.
Interesting story of the statue is that the British sculpture commissioned for the work had seen just one Malay, the then President so although there are six people in the memorial statue all of them look the same.

The Merdeka was our next stop. Can you believe it nobody got down. Merdeka is the Independence square with beautiful british structures all around. An old cricket club pavalion reminds you of the pictures you see of the county grounds in England. I was reminded of the Merdeka Cup football. I went out and took a few pictures. Mayank got excited when he saw that Liverpool coach Arsene Wenger was expected there and wanted to stay back/come back. But his idea was vetoed and we had to get back into the bus and head for our lunch at Sagar.

Sagar was a restaurant in the basement next to Little India. Just like China Town it is a place where you have narrow lanes and small shops. I failed to understand why people of India, who have the Chandini Chowks, the Johari Bazars and the Chor Bazar, were getting excited about these places.

We sat for lunch and unfortunately shared a table with the Jains. This made Mayank & Ruchra uncomfortable and they hardly had any Non Veg. I hogged as usual but could see Mrs. Jain look disapprovingly at my plate as it got piled with bones of different variety.

Anyway this brought us to the end of our City tour.
We had the remaining half day free to do what we wanted and we went shopping (window shopping).

To be continued...

Brazil at the top of the world - once again, India collapse to quality short pitched bowling - once again, Lalgarh falls - once again

2009-06-29T10:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was an eventful day.

Brazil were at it again:
The magicians worked their magic around the upstarts and got back from a 2-0 deficit to triumph in the confed cup finals.
I said once again the samba boys play their music. Besides the match what did I notice. The Brazilians (several of them) took off their yellow jerseys after the match and showed off their faith in Jesus. The vests they wore carried messages like "I love Jesus" and "I belong to Jesus".

India succumbed to genuine short stuff
Teams have been working on the drawing boards and in the nets. The Calypso kids make the Indian batters dance to their chin music and the much talked about replacements of Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid and Lakshman fall like nine pins.
Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall once again I say. Funny for an attack that did not even have a Fidel Edwards.
Do the Indians have a plan? Not that it is visible. The batters come and go as if it is normal to be out for a duck and bowlers have no set plan. The captain played a good knock with the bat (saving grace) for some insipid captaincy since the last few months. Time he took a break I feel.

Lalgarh has fallen - Naxals beware there is no future for your kind of politics
The days of glamour associated with organized crime is slowly getting over. Sri Lanka has shown us the way and it is really heartening to note that instead of playing politics over the issue the cetral government has really worked hand in hand with the state government. If dirty politics had dictated this was a good opportunity for them to add fuel to fire. The fact that they decided to use the fire brigade instead speaks volumes about the maturity of the present leadership. (handng over the ID card project to Nandan Nilekani is another sign of mature politics). Now that the maoist are on the run we can say that Naxals are on the backfoot.
Kanu Sanyal never again.

India's top 50 powerful people

2009-06-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

The list of 50 most powerful people of our times is recently published by India Today.

Not a single philosopher, thinker or writer has made it. Luckily we have AR Rahman, a composer, listed.

This in a country which gave birth to philosophers and thinkers of the caliber of Vivekananda, Adi Shankaracharya, Radhakrishnan, Chanakya and writers of epics like the Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Geeta, The vedas & the upanishads, Artha Shastra, Geetanjali and the Kama Sutra, which still mean so much not only to Indians but people all across the world.

The country which has such a vast reservoir of writing talent does not consider anyone to be influential.

It would mean two things -

The choice is governed by commercial considerations. The list includes everyone who can be connected with the ability of making money and are head turners. Starts with Ratan Tata, the Ambanis, Mittals, Godrej, Birlas, Ruias and also includes Sharukh, Amitabh and Swami Ramdev. Even Amar Singh and Parmeshwar Godrej find mention in the list.

Indian writers are no longer appealing to their readers. They have not been able to come up with ideas that influence the thinking of the readers.

The pen may be mightier than the sword but it has been bulldozed into silence by the creators of wealth. Sound bites are more important and visible.

Our Trip to Malaysia - Batu Caves

2009-06-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

After Genting Highlands which had left everyone in the group complaining about the food, we started for KL, the capital of Malaysia.
Mr. Tanwar, my fellow Rajasthani from Jodhpur, delayed the departure by 30 minutes as he attended to some last minute requirements (not sure what it was - maybe his kids had to go to the toilet)
Amarjeet, our local guide informed us that we would stopping at Batu caves. These caves are situated about 15 -20 kms away from KL and houses the temple of Muruga, a Hindu Deity.
The temple is more than 100 years old. The limestone caves they say are more than 400 million years old and the temple attracts 1.5 million pilgrims annually.
Once again when we compare it with the cave temples in India and if any one has been to the Elephanta Caves outside Mumbai, the attraction is nothing much to talk about. I am not even talking about the Ajanta and Ellora attractions.
The pic alongside is the tallest Muraga statues in the world that stands on the foot of the caves. 272 steps alongside lead to the cave. Mayank and I made it in one go and at a fast pace.

Two special things about the place:

We had coconut water. The coconuts are full of water and one coconut provides a belly full. Needless to add it was costly. At RM 3 for a coconut it came to Rs. 42/=. But it was worth it.
Mayank took a picture with a python around his neck. I will upload the pic once I have scanned it. But this will always remind us of Batu caves and Mayank looks cool. He had wanted to take the pic at Genting Highlands but had backed off. Although Amarjeet had managed to let him get the snake around his neck there as well (without paying a penny). We paid RM 15 for the pic at Batu Caves.

Till then we had thought that the tour was highly professional. There was no commercial strings attached. But just before we reached Batu Caves we had the first taste of commercialization. We had a stop outside a watch shop. Just like in India the tour guide told us that the shop prices are attractive. I wonder why only tour operators find such shops attractive? Why don't the locals shop there?

Anyway this was a small irritant and as I did not buy anything I have nothing to complain about.

By six in the evening we had reached our hotel in Malaysia.

The rooms were good and the location was central.

We meet Homi, our Cox & Kings guide from India. The guide who was supposed to part of the tour had failed to report and Homi was sent as a replacement. He was a couple of days late but he made his presence felt immediately.

If Amarjeet's spoke in a modulated tone, Homi was an out of tune African drum. If Amarjeet brought humor in every sentence, Homi killed it with his long drawn narration. If Amarjeet was relaxed, Homi was time bound. We now had a guide who took his job as the tour leader seriously.

To be continued....

MJ - The King of Pop is no more

2009-06-27T05:24:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson will forever be remembered for the joy he brought to music and dance lovers.

The Moonwalker has walked into the outer space.

This brings an end to his agony.

He was different and suffered a lot because he lived life the way he wanted to.
Changing his nose and skin color was just part of his eccentricity.

He tried to make people believe that he was normal by marrying Elvis Presley' daughter and then by having three children but there are so many secrets about everything he did that everything he did was a bi drama.

The child molestation charges that refused to die and the shift to Bahrain indicated a troubled soul and strangulated the talent that he was born with.

But for a short period when his genius was at it's peak he gave us the best of Pop. Nobody can ever forget the beats of "Beat it" or the melodies of "Billie Jean" and how can anyone ever forget the moon walk.

Even in death he has created a drama.

Long live the King of Pop.

Manoj

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END - SPAIN LOSE WHEN LEAST EXPECTED = CONFEDERATION CUP FOOTBALL

2009-06-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Yesterday i saw a game that had Spain written all over it except for brief moments in between when USA squeezed some minutes for themselves and scored two fabulous goals.

Several things happened:

Spain's unbeaten record of 35 games came to an end. Seems apt as they share this record with the best team in world football i.e.Brazil.

Spain's record of consecutive wins was halted at 15.

The last appearance by a USA team in a major final was the Regional CONCACAF cup in 2007 which they won. In international competitions they seems to do well in the confederation cup as they have third place finishes in 1992 and 1999. This is their first appearance in the finals.

All good things come to an end.

Spain played fabulous free flowing attacking football but failed to penetrate the strong and dogged defense put up by USA.

Bad luck Spain. Thank you for the entertainment.

Manoj

GENTING HIGHLANDS - TRIP TO MALAYSIA

2009-06-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

"The journey to Genting Highlands is going to take 2 hours" the sweet sonorus voice of Amarjeet informed us. Don't get me wrong but he was a cute looking Punjabi Munda with a modulated voice and a sense of humour.
We had the near to the front seats and while a few of us napped, I was fully alert taking pictures and videos of the trip.
Amarjeet, our friendly guide, told us about Genting Highlands but he was most impressed by Uncle Lim.
Uncle Lim, the founder of Genting Highlands, was a small carpenter who rose to become the most powerful private contractor of Malaya to the 12th richest man in the world.
He started work on Genting Highlands in 1965 and the first hotel at the hilltop was opened in 1971. Developing from an isolated hill top today the place is a must visit for tourist to Malaysia.
Well getting back to my trip - The bus journey was smoother than a flight. Not a single pot hole in sight, we travelled over 125 kms at almost even speed and the broad roads and disciplined traffic was another special feature of Malaysia.
Enroute we crossed KL and had our first glimpse of the Petronas tower, another must visit site of Malaysia.
The roads started going up an incline and the greenery and flowers were in abundance. Palm trees, infact entire plantations lined the highway and hibiscus of all colours, planted in the road dividers, danced in the light breeze.
Our luggage had already reached the hotel we were informed. By the way, Amarjeet had made a midway stop at a highway dhabha which was as well equipped as the best food courts.
One irritant which dogged us through out the tour was first sensed at this stop. The smell of raw non vegetarian food (especially beef) can kill the appetite of most vegetarians and non beef eating Hindus.
The trip to Genting Highland from the base of the hilltop was done on the Genting skyway, a cable car that runs 3.4 kms in only 18 minutes. The beauty of the cable car ride is that we take the ride over a tropical rain forest which is more than 70 million years old. If green is your favourite colour you will have nothing to complain about.
"Genting Highland is only the third entertainment city in the world" Amarjeet informed us adding that it was at par with Las Vegas and Sun city.
By the time we had checked into our Hotel, The first World Hotel, the biggest hotel in the world with 6,118 rooms (It is said that the hotel has this odd number of rooms as the place is 6,118 feet above sea level), we were dead tired. The world biggest hotel has very small rooms and no room service is provided.
We had some expensive sour tasting coffee and got ready for dinner. The spread was huge but the food taste did not suit us so a hard core non veg like me had to suppliment my meal with fruits.
The next day we had breakfast at a new place and spend some time at the theme park. Nothing special here.
The casinos were crowded and noisy. I did not play. I believe the ambience was as good as the casinos in vegas.
The lunch was again at the place where we had dinner and then we started for KL.

The highlight of the visit to Genting was the cable car ride over the tropical rain forests and the variety of hibiscus all along the road. The palm plantations and terrace agri plots along the way was what impressed me the most.

I was not impressed by the casinos as I did not win (I believe I would have liked it if I had played and won) and the theme park was nothing out of usual.

By the way the place was damn crowded and expensive by Indian standards. Chinese youngsters were the dominant group with Indians coming a close second.

To be continued....

OUR TRIP TO MALAYSIA

2009-06-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hi,

The trip to Malaysia and Singapore was good.

I think this sentence actually sums up my impression about the two countries. Nothing exceptional but no one is disappointed. In this post I talk about Malaysia.

Cox & Kings our tour operator had booked us on Sri Lankan Airlines (I had protested and asked them to book us on a direct flight but they said that it would cost Rs.10,000/- more for the four of us) which meant that we took a flight first to Colombo (3.30 hrs) stayed there for a few hours (In fact we reached there at 10 PM and shifted to a reasonably good resort called Tamarind Tree and started back for the airport at 5.20AM) and then boarded the flight to Malaysia. (3 hours)
The KL airport is reasonably big and we had to take the mono rail from our terminal to the exit and immigration terminal. This was the first time we took the mono rail at an airport and the uniqueness of the rail trip impressed me. I embarrased my daughter by taking pictures. The mono rail at the airport is the slow version of the metros. Another unique feature of the airport was the effort to create an ambience of closeness to nature within the concrete. We had sunlight streaming in through atriums and green foilage along the travelator. I embarrased the family once again by insisting on taking pictures. I will no longer mention this embarrasment part as this continued to happen at regular frequency till they gave up protesting.
OK, Need to add this - we had to fill in the health form for Swine Flu. I believe they had a thermal detector in place as well. The form was also needed at Sri Lanka. Indians are given 72 hours Visa on arrival at Sri Lanka.
Our Guide Amarjeet was waiting for us at the exit and by the time we gathered together it was almost 2 in the afternoon. (3 and half hours ahead of India and Sri Lanka). 42 of us had collected from Delhi and Mumbai.
Amarjeet is an Indian Malaysian (second generation) and can speak Hindi. It is understood that he is the only Malaysian guide who can speak Hindi.
We put our luggage in a mini truck and boarded our Bus for Genting Highlands.

To be continued...

THINGS I DID LIKE ABOUT DARBHANGA

2009-06-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hello,
After having put in a lot of words about my disappointment with the trip to Darbhanga I started to think and ponder on the positives of the trip. Was it so bad that I did not see any thing I liked? I wondered and concluded that no it was not that bad.

The four lane highway from Patna to Darbhanga is almost done. Once it is done the traffic flow will improve and the journey will be comfortable. The stretches where the road was completed was good.
The Raj Dharbhanga fort stands tall. A majestic structure it reminds you of the forts in Delhi and Rajasthan.
Alongside the old untouched cinemas we see several new structures. The buildings around our dilapidated lal kothi states that money is flowing in. It is understood that children from Darbhanga are moving out and doing well for themselves. It is interesting to note that they are ploughing back the gains into Darbhanga. With land at a premium it is understood that land costs are pretty high.
Our plot of land continues to remain the largest in the town. The plot of Gopalji Chacha comes a close second and his son Arvind told me that there were only two landlord families left in Darbhanga i.e. after Darbhanga Maharaj, of course.
Gujju Chacha, my uncle who has stayed back has continued to retain the goodwill built for the family by my grandfather and his predecessors. We had several visitors and all appeared keen to retain contacts with the family.
Nitesh, Neha and Dolly, Gujju chacha's children and my younger cousins have done well for themselves. Nitesh seems to be doing well in his business venture in Chennai, Neha is already recruited by Ranbaxy through her campus and Dolly, who is still in school appears to be on the right track.
The hotel we stayed in was Airconditioned, we had electricity for the major part of the day and the comforts were at least three star. Did not expect this in Darbhanga.
My childhood friends, Arvind and Mani came down to meet me and we effortlessly slipped back into those days when sitting in our verandah and playing cards was a full time activity. They did not have the paunch that most people in mid age acquire and looked as good.
Sanju and Nitesh are good cousins to have. Sanju has matured.
Although the Lal Kothi is beyond repair and rennovation we can still think of something for the place.
Our entire family got together at short notice. This shows that there is a chance of doing things together.
Cleanliness remains an issue but you cannot have everything can you?

Hope seems to come back when I think of the positives. I only pray that matters get sorted out legally. I cannot afford to get into any legal tangle.

SAINA NEHWAL - INDIAN CHAMPION

2009-06-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hello,
With the Indian cricket team going out of the world cup without a fight and Jeev Milkha Singh struggling for form I had thought it would take a long while before I wrote about an Indian Champion.
It is my mistake that I missed writing on Suranjoy Singh who gave India its first Asian championship gold in 15 years. Thokchom Nanao Singh and Jai Bhagwan who got silver medals and Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg) who won bronze are the unsung heroes in the Indian Sporting arena.
The country’s boxers rounded off a 27-year best performance in the elite event in Zhuhai, China ending the campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals. The team was placed third in the overall standings behind host China and Uzbekistan.
Coming back to my search for an Indian Champion. Saina Nehwal has finally delivered. She was always at the rim of the steep incline to being called the best and she has shown tremendous character in working hard to finally reach there. Victory in Indonesia Super Series badminton tournament is the first ever Super Series win by an Indian and she can now proudly step on the pedestal that was till now reserved for our All England heroes Prakash Padukone and Gopichand.
The BAI, a very poor cousin of the BCCI, has announced an award of Rs. 2,00,000/= peanuts when compared to what BCCI distributed to schools in South Africa (Rs. 5,30,00,000/=) during the IPL. Does this raise a question about loyalty to the nation?
But it has always been like this in India. A politician can donate a gold crown with diamond studs worth Rs. 4,00,00,000/= at Tirupati Balaji when he just has to step out of his house and see people who do not get a single meal every day.
The focus is wrong and till we get it right we shall continue to be a nation without many heroes.
Regards,
Manoj

TRIP TO DARBHANGA

2009-06-22T01:21:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if it would be right to jot down the disappointments of the trip. I had such high hopes and so many wonderful memories of the place that I feel I betray the place of my birth when I say i was disappointed by what I saw.
The trip started on a wrong footing -

We chose to go by train to Patna when flights were available - my sister, Asha and I had decided on the train journey as we felt that the flight to Patna would be an unwanted expense for our younger sister, Rina. This seemed stupid when we saw how Rina's husband, Ashok pooh poohed the idea of expenses. I believe they are doing well financially and do not require their NRI relatives to look down on them financially. Good for them.
Coming back to the beginning - the choice of going by train was wrong - Delhi station was very crowded, the weather was hot and humid, the waiting rooms were overflowing with people, the fans on the platforms were not working, the tracks next to the platform were full of human filth and bad odour, the wait for the train to arrive was too long. The sea of humanity, the filth, the bad odour and the delay was a big letdown after we had heard so much about what laloo Yadav was supposed to have done for the Indian Railways.
The train was a dissappointment as well. The sheets, pillows provided were unclean, there were cockroaches is the coach and we were not allotted seats together and although we had thought it would be fun with all 10 of us travelling together it never materialized. I could not sleep well as I feared that my snoring would disturb the others and although the AC worked fine, I do not think I can say that the train trip was enjoyable.
We reached Patna in the morning and were happy to see a less crowded station. The station also appeared cleaner than Delhi. We were joined by Shailesh, Asha's husband. This was a surprise as he had told us that he would be on a business trip in Dubai. He is a fun guy and I was happy to see him. We stopped over at his parents house in Patna. This place in Sri Krishna Nagar is supposed to be a posh area with the CM of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, having a house in the same colony, but the surroundings were a disappointment. There was a vacant plot nearby which was being used as a garbage dump by all residents in the vicinity. I fail to understand how people ignore the threat of disease that this kind of garbage disposal invites. The pothole in front of the house gate was as big as a inflatable kiddies swimming pool.

Do you think this is bad. Well this did not actually disappoint me enough as the memories of the house in Darbhanga was keeping me in good spirits.

The journey to Darbhanga by road was torturous. The state highway was under construction and the lesser we talk about the better. But once we reached Darbhanga the spirits took a dip.
We took a narrow path along the Raj Darbhanga fort. - A fabulous construction in red, ignored and unattended. It would have acted like an oasis in the middle of a desert if they had taken care of the beautiful structure created many many years ago. Unfortunately the surroundings are inhabited by a set of people who have ideas about cleanliness that is matchless. Used to broad roads in Kuwait and reasonable roads in Jaipur we felt it was a miracle that the path along the Raj fort could manage a two way traffic.
Anyway, the tower chowk, Uma and Society cinema which have a special place in my memories were also a disappointment. They remained untouched by any caring hand for the last 25 years. And then finally I reached the Lal Kothi - my grandfather's abode, a place I have always associated with buccolic charm. Oh God! what a disappointment.
The kothi has crumpled. Only 50% of the frontage in broken state is still standing. The lovely frontage is spoilt by several changes. The grond in front has been raised to reduce the steps to the verandah from 10 to four. The rose garden in front of the house is a weed infested open ground, the agricultural patch beyond is also weed infested and the small pond at the end remains just a pool of dirty water.
I enter the house and go inside - the inner aangan looks beautiful except that the rooms around it have all collapsed. The Tulsi still stands but I do not think anyone prays there. The house with 36 rooms is now a modern structure with just three rooms at one corner. They say that my aunt was hit by a falling brick in the old room and they had to hastily build the new rooms to escape further calamity. I cried inside and I am sure my grandfather who was so proud of his house would be crying as well.
Is there a chance to redo it. No none. None as it would be expensive. None as it would not be worth it. None as the will to do it is missing.
I had plans of doing something for the house, but then I heard what my relatives had to say and I got scared.

I am giving it time though and if and only if things can be sorted out legally will I take the next step. Till then I have no option but to regret the tumbling of my childhood memories.

Darbhanga is a disappointment. The population has multiplied, the land has remained the same.
Darbhanga is a disappointment. People have moved out and have come back with the same narrow minds.
Darbhanga is a disappointment. The village setting has been forsaken to create concrete structures without the supporting infrastructure.

Luckily, three trees, the jalebi tree at the far end of the agri plot, the coconut tree on the left and the lovely tree with flowers we used for prayers on the right still stand. Gives me hope, but is it hopeless I wonder.

I had hoped that with so many relatives gathering we would be in a position to think on some positive lines. No one talked about anything, group photgraphs were taken, hugs were exchanged but I feel that the under current of ill feeling towards each other is too strong to fight against.

Dear God prove me wrong. I am ready to be corrected.

Roger Federer - The new Rod Laver

2009-06-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,
This post is slightly out of date as it should have come immediately after the guy who can cry when winning as well as when loosing made it to the apex at the french open.
Congratulation Roger on your 14th Grand Slam.
With Nadal out of Wimbledon, I am hoping that the Pete Sampras record is going for a tumble very soon.
Best of luck, Roger.
Roger Federer has shown to the world what it takes to be a champion. Many have said that he would not be able to match the genius of Laver but you need to remember that Tennis is now more global than it was in the 60's when Laver was playing. It also needs to be pointed out that Roger has shown that he is a true champion by hanging out there when people had already dipped their quills into his blood for his obituary after he lost to Nadal at the last Wimbledon.
Not that it belittles Laver, Pete or Nadal but the affable Roger is a true champ.
Well done and keep going.
Manoj

PAKISTAN - WORLD CHAMPIONS

2009-06-22T00:51:00.000-07:00

Pakistan were crowned world champions for 20-twenty yesterday and they truely deserve the crown.
The fact that they were nearly there in the last edition when the Misbah Scoop did them in and the way they sorted out the mystery of Dilshan, Murali, Mendis and Malinga means that they do know how to do well in this format.
A difference that was noticeable - Imran and Younis - Both khans have lead them to their major triumphs, but while Imran was egoistic to the very end, Younis is humble.
Imran's team played for him, Younis's team plays for the country. He makes it clear that the win is for the country. He was a reluctant leader but the way he was able to extract the goods from Afridi speaks well of his skills.
Sri Lanka were undone by the failure of Dilshan and although the 3M's did try their best while bowling, the score was not good enough and Afridi did not loose his head.
I bet on Sri Lanka winning the next edition. This way the cup stays in the Indian sub continent.
Manoj

World Cup 20 Twenty

2009-06-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Last time while writing about the IPL I had mentioned that Dhoni, as captain of Chennai, had his bad moments in the field and made decisions that went against his team.
Now with India out of the World Cup 20 Twenty a lot has already been spoken about the mistakes he made in and out of the playing arena. He has also turned defensive and his batting (pushes, nudges and defensive prods) indicate that he is no longer the aggressive captain he was when India won the World cup and put up strong performances against Australia, England and Sri Lanka in the recent past. His defensive attitude on the Sehwag issue also indicated that he is now burdened by thoughts that are in no way connected with winning. Finally when he started blaming the BCCI for selecting players with injuries he exhibited fraility. When the leader tries to camouflage poor performance he is not doing justice to his position. Not only is he being dishonest, he is also blocking the path of remedy.
India is a cricket crazy nation and it is normal that defeats affect us badly. When you are so passionate about the game it is normal that you wear your heart on your sleave and it is again stupid of people to put this outpouring of feelings as a sign of immaturity. (Artherton says Indian supporters are most immature)
The only way to get back the support of the fans is by getting back to the winner's podium. Belief in their own natural abilities will get them back there. Too much analysis spoils the broth, Dhoni should go by his insticts again, attack and trust the attacking players. Do not play the way the media wants you to, play for victory.
Good luck to Dhoni and his men when they tour West Indies.
Manoj

INDIA, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE & SRI LANKA

2009-06-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hello,
I have just completed a 15 days tour of the above mentioned countries and the first difference between the southeast and the Indian subcontinent is clearly the cleanliness and discipline.
When we land into India from Kuwait we see some greenery and are so happy but then when we reach Malaysia and Singapore, India looks like a desert. The rain forests of the southeast are green and pleasant.
Then when you get out of the aircraft the manner in which things are handled is also different Malaysia and Singapore are strict but efficient. India and Sri Lanka are lax and indifferent.
The only thing in favor of the sub continent is the prices.
Singapore doubles the prices of everything in Malaysia. So if a tee costs 10 ringets in Malaysia it is 10 Sing $ in Singapore. And the price of a similar looking tee in Sri Lanka is just 400 Sri Lanka rupees. That is rupees 200 (Indian).
Rest in my detailed post later.
Best regards,
Manoj

BARCELONA - CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNERS - LIONEL MESSI - A REAL LIFE HERO

2009-05-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Barcelona dispatched Manchester United with a dazzling, speedy and dominating display to win the Champions League title 2-0. This is their second win in four seasons. Samuel Eto’o scored first 10 minutes into the game and then Lionel Messi fittingly put it beyong the reigning champions when he headed in the second goal in the 70th minute. This prevented the English club from becoming the first team in 19 years to win consecutive European titles.
If there is one player who can be singled out for praise it is Lionel Messi.
A commentator aptly called him the player who runs with the ball as if it is tied to his boot laces. Such wonderful control and speed.
And to imagine that at 11 he was told by the doctor he would never grow beyond 4'7". Barcelona funded his treatment at $1,500 per month and Messi has stayed with them till now. At 5'7" he is now the world's best footballer.
Another story of the victory of will over situation. A real life hero.
He has twice, in 2007 and 2008 ended up being runners up 'FIFA footballer of the year', with this performance and the 38 goals he has scored in 2008-09 he can safely presume that he can now wear the crown.
Regards,
Manoj

SUPER 30 AT IIT - PRIDE OF BIHAR

2009-05-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Hello,

PRIDE OF BIHAR - SUPER 30

When ADGP Abhyanand broke away from the Ramanujam School of Mathematics Super 30, it was felt that the success he had got earlier would be difficult to replicate.

Well he has proved everyone wrong. 48 of his 54 students 10 muslims and 38 dalits and backward class students from Patna, Nalanda and Bhagalpur cracked the IIT JEE.

The Ramanujam School of Mathematics’ the original Super 30 under Anand Kumar has sent all its 30 candidates to IITs.

Anand Kumar teaches Mathematics and Abhyanand teaches Physics.

After 2007, Abhayanand decided to chart his own course and took the experiment to minority students and other districts.

Watch the award winning documentary on the super 30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzTxDPy8Bc&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJzKbGu42D4&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QQ9FZNNkFg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjlMwwYgnYs&feature=related

SWINE FLU AND AIDS

2009-05-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

MY FRIEND SEND ME AN INTERESTING MAIL TODAY:
HE SAID

190 PEOPLE DIE OF SWINE FLU AND EVERYONE IS WEARING FACE MASKS.
10 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE AIDS BUT WE STILL REFUSE TO WEAR CONDOMS.

STRANGE IS THE WAY PEOPLE REACT.

SUSAN BOYLE and JAMIE PUGH - IT IS NEVER TOO LATE

2009-05-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello,
A 48 year old jobless church singer and a 38 year old Van Driver by day and Pizza Delivery person by night show the world how it is never too late to do what you have to do.

Susan Boyle is already into the Finals, Jamie has faced criticism when people found that he had not been correct when he said that he had never sung on stage before. Poor guy. Let us hope he gets over his stage fright once more and the insults in the intermittent period to get into the finals.

Watch them sing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il5TBgD9kHI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1KHRf02ups&feature=related

This is a lesson. Everytime, Anytime is the right time. You are never too old to be yourself.
Regards,
Manoj

IPL FINALS - DECCAN CHARGERS ARE CHAMPS

2009-05-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

HELLO,
YESTERDAY I WROTE THAT THE WINNER WILL DEPEND ON HOW THE KEY PLAYERS WILL PERFORM.
THE KEY PLAYERS WHO PERFORMED FOR DC WERE SYMONDS, GIBBS, RP SINGH AND OJHA.
THE KEY PLAYERS FOR RC WHO DID NOT PERFORM KALLIS, DRAVID AND ROSS TAYLOR.
KUMBLE TRIED HIS BEST BUT IT WAS NOT TO BE HIS DAY. ANOTHER DAY AWAY FROM THE HEADLINES FOR THE GENTLEMAN CRICKETER.
DOES NOT MATTER. FROM NO 7 IN 2008 TO NO 2 IN 2009.
CONGRATULATIONS DC FROM NO 8 IN 2008 TO NO 1 IN 2009.
WE GO ON TO THE WORLD CUP NOW.
HAPPY VIEWING,
MANOJ

IPL 2009 - FINALS

2009-05-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

HELLO,

LAST YEAR WHEN RAJASTHAN ROYALS WON THE IPL2008, SHANE WARNE WAS SAID TO BE THE BEST CAPTAIN THAT AUSTRALIA DID NOT HAVE.
THIS WAS POSSIBLY CORRECT AS HE HAD A CONSISTENT WIN RECORD. HE WAS NO DOUBT SUPPORTED BY THREE FABULOUS PLAYERS - SHANE WATSON, SOHAIL TANVEER AND YOUSUF PATHAN. THIS YEAR HE DID NOT HAVE THEM BUT HE WAS ABLE TO GENERATE EXCITEMENT AND HOPE TILL THE VERY END. HIS ABILITY TO BRING ORDINARY PLAYERS TO PERFORM AT 200% OF THEIR ABILITY AND A NEVER SAY DIE ATTITUDE DOES MAKE HIM THE APT CANDIDATE FOR THE TITLE 'THE BEST CAPTAIN A COUNTRY NEVER HAD'.
HE IS A COLOURFUL CHARACTER AND HAS LIVED LIFE ON THE HEADLINES.
ANOTHER CANDIDATE WHO HAS ALWAYS LIVED IN THE SIDELINES BUT HAS PROVED THAT HE IS ANOTHER CANDIDATE FOR THE TITLE IS ANIL KUMBLE. WITH SEVEN WINS OUT OF NINE MATCHES HE HAS SHOWN EXCEPTIONAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE FACT THAT IN IPL2008 THEY WERE AT TH BOTTOM OF THE LADDER AND IN IPL 2009, BEFORE HE TOOK OVER, THEY WERE MOVING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, HIS LEADERSHIP IS WORTH PRAISE.
ADAM GILCRIST IS AOTHER PLAYER WHO WILL VIE WITH THEM FOR THE TITLE. AFTER ALL FROM NO8 IN 2008, HE HAS BROUGHT THE TEAM TO THE FINAL IPL 2009 ON THE STRENGTH OF HIS OWN PERFORMANCE. HE IS TRUELY A LEADER WHO LEADS BY EXAMPLE.
ONE PERSON WHO SAW HIS HALO SLIP A BIT IS MS DHONI. HE LOST A FEW MATCHES ANDTOOK SOME DECISIONS WHICH CHANGED THE COURSE OF MATCHES AGAINST HIS TEAM. THREE CAPTAINS WHO PROVED THAT THEY CAN NEVER BE GOOD AS CAPTAINS ARE SACHIN TENDULKAR, YUVRAJ SINGH AND VIRENDRA SEHWAG.
TOMORROW WE HAVE THE FINALS AND RP SINGH, ANDREW SYMONDS, GIBBS, OJHA AND ADAM GILCHRIST HOLD THE KEY FOR DC WHILE ANIL KUMBLE, RAHUL DRAVID, KALLIS AND ROSS TAYLOR ARE THE KEY PLAYERS FOR RC.
NOW THAT MY TEAM RR IS NOT IN THE FINALS, MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN.
BEST WISHES TO BOTH TEAMS,
MANOJ

Van Gogh - The Genius

2009-05-21T05:27:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Earlier I wrote that I was attacked by a sense of madness every ten days and waited for the inspiration to hit me. Then on the eleventh day realized how normal I was. I thought I could never
be as insane as Van Gogh.
Disappointed I did a little more research on Van Gogh and lo behold! What do I find - he was normal till very late in life.
I do have a chance then is it not?
Thanks to wikipedia I am hopeful once again.
Regards,
Manoj

LEFT EARLY FROM OFFICE - LEARNT SOMETHING

2009-05-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

Hi,
For the first time in three years we had a major power outage at office today. Work cam to a standstill. With everything on computers we could do nothing but sit around waiting for power to come back.
Finally, one hour before the office closure the Chairman sent a message that we could leave. Almost everyone left and I was amongst the first to leave.
So what did I learn - Well I learnt that I no longer like writing on paper with a pen. The computer allows you so many neat corrections while writing and even at a later stage/date, but when you write on paper no such corrections are possible. You cut and scribble on top and on the margins. Later when you try to read what you wrote you dislike the scribbling and miss the neatness of the computer.
I wonder how maybe just five years back I was writing pages without corrections. Has my thinking become complicated?
Best wishes,
Manoj

SECOND INNINGS - REINCARNATION OF MOHAMMAD AZHARUDDIN

2009-05-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

HELLO ALL,
YESTERDAY WE SAW THE WIZARD OF THE LEG SIDE - A MICHELANGELO IN THE MIDST OF HOUSEPAINTERS, START HIS SECOND INNINGS ON A DIFFERENT PITCH.
VERY RARELY DO PEOPLE GET ANOTHER CHANCE IN LIFE. SECOND CHANCES ARE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BASICALLY GOOD. WITH AZHAR MY GUT FEELING THAT HE WAS SUCKED INTO THE MATCH FIXING.
HE CONTINUES TO SHOW RISK TAKING ABILITIES BY PUTTING UP HIS T SHIRT COLLAR ON NATIONAL TELEVISION AND I AM SURE HE IS STILL SUSCEPTIBLE TO QUICK GET RICH SCHEMES.
AZHAR IS THE GUY WHO HIT THREE CENTURIES ON THE TROT (AFTER DEBUT) AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A FOURTH IF HE HAD A MORE MATURE PLAYER AT THE NON STRIKERS END AT EDEN GARDENS. I WAS THERE AT THE GROUND THAT DAY AND SAW HIS FACE DROP WHEN HE WAS BERATED BY MOHINDER FOR TRYING TO PLAY AGGRESSIVELY AFTER REACHING HIS FIFTY.
TWO SENTENCES WHICH WILL ALWAYS BE ETCHED IN MIND WHEN WE TALK ABOUT AZHAR ARE 'MIYA, CAPTAN BANOGE?' ASKED BY RAJ SINGH DUNGARPUR AND 'MAINE MATCH BANAYA' REPORTEDLY TOLD BY AZHAR AFTER HE WAS ACCUSED ON MATCH FIXING.
A NOTED CRICKET WRITER ONCE SAID, "IT'S NO USE ASKING AN ENGLISHMAN TO BAT LIKE AZHARUDDIN. IT WOULD BE LIKE EXPECTING A GREYHOUND TO WIN THE LONDON DERBY!'
BRAVO AHZAR ON YOUR 100TH TEST MATCH. LET US HOPE YOU HIT CENTURIES IN YOUR SECOND INNINGS AS WELL.
BEST WISHES TO MY HERO OF THE LEGSIDE
MANOJ

Who is Van Gogh

2009-05-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Van Gogh is a genius.
People have used several adjectives for Van Gogh. Most of the times he has been called insane. But just imagine can an insane person create the pictures he did? Did he not show that he had full control over his senses when he drew the beautiful creations sitting on the window of the mental asylum? People say that a person who cuts off his own earlobe can be nothing but insane.
If being insane means able to open up one's mind so be it. If being insane means being able to see what others ignore or do not see, then so be it.
He is one person who came closest to his creator and saw the creations just like him.
By God, he was a genius.
Best regards,
Manoj

RAJASTHAN ROYALS

2009-05-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Last year at the inaugural IPL I was a blind RR and KKR supporter. KKR disappointed but RR did not and I was overjoyed when RR won the trophy.
This year the KKR had an inauspicious start. If the team is deciding on the captain just a week before the start of the competition it is bound to suffer. They lost my support when Dada was ousted.
RR continued to carry my support but when they were all out for 58 and every bowler was being hauled for chucking the hopes seemed slim. Sohail Tanvir was not playing and Shane Watson got injured just before he was due to play, Greame Smith could not take advantage of home conditions but the magician continued to mesmerize and opponents froze like rabbits against searchlights when he exposed his brilliance.
We had a betting a couple of weeks back and I put my bet on Kings XI, DD, DC and CSK making the semis. RR was not there and I felt my selection to be a logical elimination. But even today when just a loss could mean that I mean I cheer for RR. This is the magic of Shane Warne. He can perform miracles. Can the no hopers make it twice in a row.
Best wishes to my team and captain courageous.
Manoj

jaipurblogger

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon V

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon IV

THE AIRTEL DELHI HALF MARATHON III

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon II

THE AIRTEL DELHI HALF MARATHON

Ramadaan for Non-Muslims in Kuwait

VAISHNO DEVI TRIP

My Vacation In India

GETTING NEW FRIENDS

Short Story - Recipe for a Disaster

KIDNAPPED IN DARBHANGA

Just Like That

Suffocating Darkness

CARLOS SLIM HELU - WHO IS HE?

Vanilla Desires and Other Stories

Vanilla Desires and Other Stories

My short Story "In Search of Durga" getting published

J D SALINGER - THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

SHARM EL SHEIKH - A HOLIDAY DESTINATION FOR THE LAZY

MY BEST BIRTHDAY

EGYPT - THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

LOVE STORY - Do you remember Erich Segal

Martin Luther King Day

THE JYOTI IS EXTINGUISHED - MAY HE LIVE IN OUR HEARTS

MY TRIP TO EGYPT

IS OSAMA BIN LADEN SPANISH

MY MOTHER IS AN UGLY WOMAN

IN SUPPORT OF TIGER WOODS

BARCELONA LET DOWN

Global Investment House - Restructuring completed

EXCITEMENT

27/11/2009 - Kuwait at a Farm House

26/11/2009 in Kuwait - By the Sea

Hypocricy - Unconscious bias

Election, your choice

MF HUSSAIN - HYPOCRICY UNVEILED

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. ~Harold Wilson

Books worth reading - The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

A Golden Opportunity for Change in SBBJ called Elections

David Letterman - Holier than thou

ELECTIONS IN SBBJ

CHANGE IN BANK TIMINGS

TRUST YOUR THOUGHTS.

EID GIFT - TO CITIZENS OF KUWAIT

Questions & Answers

Last Set of Questions

More Questions

Next 2 Questions

Day 2 Questions

Questions

MUNSHI PREMCHAND

WHAT SHOULD I READ NEXT

RAMADAN FOR A NON MUSLIM IN KUWAIT

THE ALCHEMIST - PAUL COELHO

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

John Updike - Rabbit Run

TRIBUTE TO LEELA NAIDU - ANURADHA

TRIBUTE TO MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI - JAIPUR'S PRIDE

Kuwait - Life of an indian Expatriate

The Manchester Fiction Prize 2009

THE SHRINKING WOMAN AND OTHER STORIES

TRIP TO SINGAPORE

Trip to Singapore

Trip to Singapore - From Malaysia

Trip To Malaysia - A Famosa Resort

Trip To Malaysia - Shopping

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR V

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR IV

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR III

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR II

THE BEST PLACES IN JAIPUR

My Reply to a debate on Indian Literature

WIMBLEDON - THE FINAL HURDLE

Wimbledon Dominance

Trip to Malaysia

Brazil at the top of the world - once again, India collapse to quality short pitched bowling - once again, Lalgarh falls - once again

India's top 50 powerful people

Our Trip to Malaysia - Batu Caves

MJ - The King of Pop is no more